Chained Memories
by animechick247
Summary: Sequel to 'A Trail of Memories' Hikari's quest for Riku continues as she travels with Sora, Donald and Goofy into Castle Oblivion. She begins to remeber things that she once forgotten, but why can't she remember a girl named Namine like Sora does?
1. Chapter 1

Prolog

**A/N: Hey everyone! Here's the sequel to 'A Trail of Memories' ! I hope you all look forward to it.**

**Just a heads up, I won't be doing most of the worlds that they go through in Castle Oblivion. Mainly because their pretty much recaps of the worlds that were seen in the first story and because I HATE the battle system of this game. I'll only be doing the main worlds that revolve around the story like Traverse Town, Twilight Town and Destiny Island.**

**If you want me to do a specific world from the game, then maybe I'll make an exception, but that's it. The main story focuses around the Castle.**

**So without further ado, here's part 2!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

_One heart fulfills all hearts._

_All hearts lead to the same heart._

"_Kingdom Hearts"_

_A place where the mighty heart lives._

_And where darkness is endlessly deep._

_/_

_One upon a time, there were many different worlds._

_Each world was locked and did not intermingle._

_Four children wanted to escape and see the outside world._

_But one day, darkness appeared and engulfed the worlds._

_Many worlds were engulfed by darkness and disappeared._

_And a princess was chosen to save the worlds with her friend._

_The princess and her friends fought the darkness and locked many doors._

_In another place, a lost friend was about to be swallowed by darkness, but he also had the power to overcome darkness._

_He lost his body trying to save the princess that he loved so much and his soul was left behind on the other side of the door, and his heart began hovering between light and darkness._

_The princess was able to lock the last door with the help of her friend and her knight who defeated the darkness._

_After her journey, the princess said goodbye to her friends and ended up in a strange place far away from her world._

_Clues for finding her knight on the other side of the door came and went._

_But the princess had friends._

_And she had hope._

/

**A/N: I know it wasn't much, but that's what a prolog is for. The next chapter will be much longer than this, I swear. **

**Please send me your reviews and tell me what you think!**

**Ja ne!**


	2. Strangers in the Night

Chapter 1: Strangers in the Night

**A/N: I'm glad to see that everyone is excited about the second story. I didn't know you liked the first one that much! **

**Here's the first chapter to the sequel!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Hikari looked up at the star filled sky.

They had lost track of Pluto a while back, so they decided to make camp for the night.

Donald and Goofy were sound asleep near the fire while Sora was looking at the flames.

Hikari simply thought about Riku.

She was relieved that he was alive and doing well, but she was worried about him.

She wondered if he would be alright staying on the other side of Kingdom Hearts.

She worried if he would be tempted by the darkness again and lose himself once more.

But the one thing that ran through her mind over and over again was would she be able to see him again?

King Mickey said that they would, but when would that be?

She wanted to see him so badly.

Plus, he was holding onto her lucky charm.

Her hand went to her neck. The feeling of not having her pendant with her was really weird. She had kept that with her since she arrived on the islands all those many years ago.

It was more than just a necklace to her, it was part of her past.

Her mother had sealed a portion of her heart within her pendant just so she could watch over her.

She prayed that Taiyouko would be alright and that she would bring Riku back to her.

She sighed and sat up.

"Can't sleep either?" Sora asked.

Hikari saw that he was holding onto Kairi's lucky charm. It must have been really hard for him to say goodbye to her like that.

But she figured that she was safe on the islands and away from all of this madness.

"You two should be sleeping" Jiminy said.

Hikari looked at the little cricket.

"You should be too, Jiminy" she said.

The cricket smiled at her.

"It's alright" he said.

"I'm writing a record of our journey in my 'Jiminy Memo'"

He handed her the little notebook for her to read.

She read over the tiny words without much trouble.

"Wow, great job"

She handed it back to Jiminy.

"I must report our adventure to Queen Minnie when I return to the castle" Jiminy said.

"It's my mission as chronicler"

Sora looked up at the night sky.

"Back on the island…the four of us built a raft. We wanted to see the outside world" he said.

"Me, Hikari, Riku…and Kairi"

He smiled softly.

"But we never imagined an adventure like this"

Hikari nodded.

"Battling heartless with the keyblade. Getting separated from Riku and Kairi. Being thrown into the outside world. Traveling to many worlds. Reuniting with my long lost brother and making friends, like you Donald and Goofy"

She sighed.

"If you had gone on the raft, how different would out adventure have been?"

She looked at the ground.

"I'm always thinking about them"

Sora looked at Jiminy.

"Jiminy…do you think we'll get to go back to our world?"

"Of course!" Jiminy said.

"Cheer up, you promised your girlfriend, right?"

Sora got beat red.

"It's nothing like that!"

Hikari giggled.

"I'm certain Donald and Goofy feel the same way" Jiminy replied.

"They're destined to return the King to his original world, and you and Hikari have to return to your original world too"

Jiminy yawned.

"Let's get some sleep, ok?"

He went to bed while Sora and Hikari were still up.

Hikari thought about the last thing that Riku said to her before Kingdom Hearts was closed.

"_I love you"_

She touched her lips from where he had kissed her.

She had spent their whole journey, wondering if Riku even liked her more than just as a friend.

When he said those words to her, she felt her heart become complete.

Her dreams of winning his heart finally came true.

She looked up at the stars.

"_Riku, I'll find you no matter what"_

She stood up from her spot on the grass.

She was too wound up to be sleeping now. She felt a little walk would do the trick.

Sora looked at her.

"Where are you going?"

"Just taking a little walk" she said.

"You can come with if you want"

Sora shrugged and stood up.

They walked in silence until they ended up on a cross road.

Hikari just sighed.

Where were they suppose to go now? They had no clues to where the King was and they had no idea where Pluto ran off to.

Sora just patted her shoulder.

"Along the road ahead lies something you both need" a voice said.

They both whipped their heads around to see a man wearing a black cloak with its hood up standing behind them.

"However-in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you"

The man disappeared down the dirt road, leaving Sora and Hikari clueless.

"What was that about?" Hikari asked.

"I have no idea" Sora said.

"But something tells me that we should follow that guy"

They ran back to the others and woke them up.

/

Mean while a girl sat in a pure white room drawing picture in her sketchbook.

She had a cage with a doll of herself sitting within it and had pictures all over the walls.

She was currently drawing a strange and bizarre castle.

It was the same exact castle that Sora and Hikari were about to be lured into.

/

**A/N: Don't you just love cliff hangers? I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I finish the next chapter to my Hellsing fanfic.**

**Feel free to review and tell me what you think!**

**Ja ne!**


	3. Castle Oblivion and Traverse Town

Chapter 2: Castle Oblivion and Traverse Town

**A/N: Hey everyone! Are you ready for Hikari's latest adventure? Well, get ready because the fun and heartbreak is about to begin!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

The group had gone down the road that the mystery man went.

They found themselves standing in front of a bizarre looking castle.

Hikari looked at the giant doors to the castle.

She didn't know why, but she felt that she should enter this castle.

It felt like her heart was telling her that this was the right way to go for her search for Riku.

Sora seemed to be looking the same way as he looked at the castle.

He looked at her.

"Let's go in"

She nodded and followed him as he opened the door.

/

The inside of the castle looked completely different than what it did on the outside. While this outside looked brownish, the inside was completely white.

They walked inside and looked around the room that they were in.

"Hey, do you think it's ok to barge in?" Goofy asked.

"But we gotta do it, if we're gonna find the King…" Donald said.

"The King?" Goofy cried.

"King Mickey's here?"

Donald shrugged.

"Something just told me he'd be here, ok?"

"Really?" Goofy asked.

"Cause now that ya mention it, I was kinda thinkin' the same thing"

Sora and Hikari looked at them.

"Seriously? Us too!" Sora said.

Hikari nodded.

"One look at this castle and I knew: our very best friends-they're here"

Goofy laughed.

"Guess great minds think alike"

Jiminy suddenly appeared on Sora's shoulder.

"Wait, hey. Hold on!" he cried.

"It can't be just a coincidence!"

"Oh no, Jiminy" Donald said.

"Ya don't mean that-"

"Yep, I had it too, mm-hmm! I had the same exact feeling"

"Gawrsh, maybe it's contagious" Goofy said.

"No, no. Something's screwy" Donald said.

"We gotta take a look"

"All right" Sora said.

He started walking.

"Where are you going?" Donald.

Sora pointed towards the door that was in front of them.

"That way. To the door" he said.

He looked back at Donald and gave him a teasing look.

"Are ya scared?"

Donald glared at him.

"Aw, don't be ridiculous!"

He looked at Goofy.

"Come on, let's go Goofy"

Hikari just giggled at him as they walked.

"Hey, fellers, shouldn't we shut the door behind us before we go?" Goofy asked.

He went to go back to close the door, but stopped when he saw someone.

"Sora! Hikari!"

The keyblade masters turned around to see the cloaked man that they meet on that cross road.

"That's it! Who are you?" Hikari declared.

Everyone drew out their weapons and pointed them at the cloaked stranger.

The man simply walked forward.

"Wak! Heartless!" Donald cried.

"Oh yeah? I'll try some magic!"

He held up his staff.

"THUNDER!"

Nothing came out of his staff.

Donald looked at it confused.

"Come on. THUNDER! THUNDER!"

Still, nothing came out.

Hikari tried to see if she could use her magic.

"Blizzard! Fire!"

The same thing happened with her as well.

Hikari looked at her keyblade.

"Why isn't it working?" She asked.

"I should think it's obvious" the cloaked man said.

"The moment you stepped foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and every ability you ever knew"

Everyone just looked at each other for a moment.

"In this place, to find is to lose, and to lose is to find" the man said.

"That is the way in Castle Oblivion"

"Castle Oblivion?" Hikari asked.

The man disappeared in a portal of darkness.

They looked around until they saw him standing behind them.

They all stepped back and pointed their weapons at him.

"Here you will meet people that you have known in the past" the man said.

"And you will meet people that you miss"

"We miss?" Sora asked.

Hikari's eyes lit up.

Did he mean Riku?

"Riku! Do you mean Riku's here?" she asked.

She hoped so; she wanted to see him so badly. Not only that, but her mom was with him. She was worried about her.

"If what you want…is to find him…" the man said.

He suddenly went through her and Sora.

Images of their previous journey flashed through her head.

"_When we get to the other side of the ocean, will we really find another world?"_

"_We'll know when we get there"_

"_The heartless are monsters that eat people's hearts"_

"_The keyblade you have…that's what the heartless are looking for"_

"_Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do you?"_

"_Protect Hikari for me, ok?"_

"_There will always be a door to the light"_

"_Remember, Hikari. No matter how deep the darkness may seem, a light will always shine within"_

Hikari held her head as the memories died down.

She was still trying to regain her memories, but that was a bit too much for her.

She looked at the cloaked man that was standing near the door they were heading.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I merely sampled your memories" he said.

"And from them, I made this"

He produced a card in his hand.

"To reunite with those you hold dear-"

He threw the card at them, which Sora caught.

"What's this? A card?" Sora asked.

"It is a promise for the reunion you seek" the man said.

"Hold the card to open the door. And beyond it, a new world"

He stepped aside for them to enter the door.

"Proceed, Sora and Hikari" he said.

"To lose and claim anew, or to claim anew only to lose…"

With that, he disappeared within a portal of darkness.

/

Sora looked at the card that was in his hand.

"Come on-let's go" he said.

They all nodded and went up to the door.

Sora held the card up and watched as the doors opened for them.

They all stepped inside to see what the next room had in store for them.

/

When they went through to the other side, they found themselves in none other than Traverse Town.

Hikari looked around in confusion.

Weren't they just in a castle? Why were they back in Traverse Town?

"This can't be right…" she said.

"We're in Traverse Town" Sora said.

The cloaked man suddenly appeared behind them.

"What you see isn't real" he said.

Sora and Hikari jumped back and pulled out their keyblades.

"This town is an illusion created by both of your memories that are ingrated into that card" the man added.

"Our memories?" Sora asked.

Jiminy suddenly jumped off of Sora's shoulder.

"Forget about that, you guys!" he cried.

"We lost Donald and Goofy!"

Hikari looked around the area for their friends.

"Donald? Goofy?"

She glared at the cloaked man.

"What did you do with them?"

"They are at the mercy of the cards now" the cloaked man said.

"Master them, and their strength will be yours again"

Hikari growled at him.

"They're not toys you can simply mess around with! Bring them back!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that" the man said.

"It's like I said, master your abilities and they shall return to you"

With that, he left them.

(A/N: Like I said before, I'm not going to follow that card battling system since I absolutely HATED it! So just pretend that Donald and Goofy were made as cards)

Hikari stomped her foot into the ground.

"How dare he do that to our friends!" she cried.

Just then, two cards floated down towards them.

They glowed for a moment before they turned into Donald and Goofy.

Sora and Hikari ran up to their friends.

"Are you guys, ok?" Hikari asked.

"Where have you been?" Sora added.

"You tell us!" Donald said.

"When you opened the door, we saw a strange light…and the rest is just…blank"

"Gee, that doesn't help" Jiminy said.

Hikari held the bridge of her nose.

"This is really messed up" she said.

"I don't even know what's going on. Why are we back in Traverse Town? How is this a part of our memories? What do we do from here?"

Sora thought about it for a moment.

"I guess we just walk forward" he said.

"Since we can't go back to the way that we came from, we just have to go further into the castle. That includes walking through Traverse Town"

Jiminy didn't seem pleased.

"I've got a bad feeling about this" he said.

"Relax, Jiminy" Sora said.

"We're ready for whatever this castle has up its sleeves. There's nothing to worry about"

He simply lead the way while everyone followed in a more reluctant pace.

"I always hate it when Sora has the last say in everything" Hikari said.

"Me too" Donald said.

They followed him through the next section of Traverse Town.

/

This was the same Traverse Town that they remembered.

It had the same districts, the same shops, and of course, the same heartless.

Since this world was made up from their memory, the heartless were added here as well.

They were easy to hack through for Sora and Hikari.

They weren't the hard heartless that they fought back at the End of the World, but they still put up a fight.

As they fought along the way, Hikari started remembering the spells that she always used.

They made their way to the third district and looked around.

"Man, this place brings back a lot of memories" Sora said.

Hikari nodded.

"This was our very first world that we visited" she added.

Goofy seemed to see something that was behind Sora and Hikari.

"Huh?"

They turned around and saw Pluto sitting before them.

"Pluto?" Sora asked.

"Things keep getting stranger!" Donald cried.

"What's Pluto doing here?"

"There's nothing strange about that" Goofy said.

"We came to Traverse Town with Pluto, didn't we?"

"Did we?" Donald asked.

"No, wait!" Jiminy said.

"According to my journal, it was before you meet Sora and Hikari that you came to town with Pluto!"

Donald and Goofy thought about it for a moment.

"He's right!" Donald said.

"We were chasing after Pluto, and that's how we ended up in Castle Oblivion!"

"But aren't we in Traverse Town?" Goofy asked.

"Well, it's not really Traverse Town" Jiminy said.

"I think the card created this Traverse Town inside Castle Oblivion"

Hikari felt a headache starting.

"Argh! Who cares about that?" she asked.

"It's too confusing!"

"I don't know where we are, but let's just keep moving forward and defeat the heartless" Sora said.

"We'll get somewhere"

They were so caught up with their arguing, that they didn't even notice someone was behind them until they spoke.

"You'd better be careful, or it's the heartless that are going to defeat you"

Hikari gasped.

She would recognize that voice anywhere.

"_But it can't be"_

She turned around and saw none other than Leon standing before them.

Sora and the others looked surprised as well.

"Leon, it's you!" Sora cried.

Hikari looked at her older brother.

"What are you doing in Castle Oblivion? I thought you were at Hollow Bastion?"

Leon looked at them confused.

"Castle Oblivion? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"This is Traverse Town. And how do you know my name? Who are you?"

That took everyone by surprise. He didn't know who they were?

Hikari looked a little hurt as she looked at her brother.

"Ni-san, don't you know who I am?" she asked.

"I'm your little sister, remember?"

Leon looked at her for a moment.

"I've never meet the likes of you before" he admitted.

Hikari looked like she was about to cry. How could her brother forget about her? Didn't he say that he was searching for her when she got separated by him all those years ago? What was going on?

Sora seemed to look hurt as well.

"Quit playing, Leon!" he said.

"We all fought the heartless together! You know that!"

Leon just looked at him.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about" he said.

"I don't even know your names"

Sora looked sad.

"You don't?" he asked.

"Sorry" Leon said.

"I can't believe it" Sora said.

"How could you have forgotten about us?"

"I feel for you, but you've got the wrong guy" Leon said.

"Happens all the time. Don't take it personally"

Hikari couldn't take this.

This couldn't be her older brother.

The Leon that she knew was always happy to see his younger sister.

This had to be something else.

"This has to be a bad dream" she said to herself.

She ran to the nearest wall and started banging her head against it.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

She went to bang her head again, but she felt someone's hand instead of the wall.

She looked up to see Leon had stopped her from hitting her head. He looked a little worried as he looked at her.

"Knock that off, Hikari! You can seriously hurt yourself!"

He then looked at Sora.

"Sora, I told you to keep an eye on her!"

He quickly covered his mouth, realizing what he had just said.

Hikari looked surprised. He had just said her name.

"You do know my name!"

She threw herself at her brother and gave him a tight hug.

"That was a mean joke, Ni-san!"

Leon just looked stunned at the girl who attached herself to him.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were surprised as well.

A minute ago, he said that he didn't know their names and yet, he said Hikari's.

"Now, now hold on!" Leon said as he tried to pull Hikari off of him.

"How do I know your name?"

Hikari looked at her older brother.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm your younger sister!"

Goofy looked at Donald.

"You think Leon's just kidding around?" he asked.

"If it is, it's not funny" Donald said.

"Sora and Hikari are really upset"

Leon looked at them.

"Who's kidding around, Goofy?" He asked.

"You and Donald are the ones who-"

He stopped when he realized he said their names.

"Hey!" Donald said.

"I don't get it" Leon said.

"Something's wrong with my memory. What's happening here?"

"I dunno, Leon. Maybe Aerith was onto something after all"

Mikomi and Yuffie walked towards them.

"She said she sensed some uncanny power. And asked us to look into it" Yuffie said.

"Well, this is as uncanny it gets" Mikomi added.

"Maybe you should take Sora and Hikari to see Aerith"

Hikari's eyes lit up when she spotted her other friends.

"Mikomi! Yuffie! You know our names!"

Mikomi looked at them.

"Yep! Looks like you know ours, too" she said.

"You know them?" Leon asked.

Mikomi shook her head.

"Nope! Total strangers. But I definitely know their names"

"Strange, yes, but convenient!"

"We can skip the introductions" Yuffie added.

Leon held the bride of his nose.

"How is it that you two can accept this situation so easily? I don't get you both"

Mikomi just laughed.

"Well, we're gonna run ahead and fill Aerith in" she said.

"Leon, you give them the grand tour" Yuffie added.

They ran off to meet up with Aerith.

Leon just looked at the others.

"I guess it's no use pondering over it" he said.

"Come on, follow me"

They followed him as he lead them to Aerith's.

/

Hikari was glad but confused to be with her brother.

Even though it was nice to see his face, it bothered her that he didn't know who she was.

"_Maybe it has something to do with this castle?" _she thought.

But then how did he know her name?

This was becoming too much for her.

They simply followed Leon as he took them to Aerith's.

They went to the vacant house, where everyone was at.

Sora and Hikari looked at Aerith hopefully.

"Aerith, have you forgotten about us too?" Sora asked.

Aerith just looked at them.

"I don't know whether to say 'nice to meet you' or 'good to see you again'" She admitted.

"I don't think I know you, but I still feel like you belong here"

"Yeah, exactly!" Mikomi said.

"Like we've never met, but it still doesn't feel weird knowing your names"

"But we're telling you, we HAVE met" Hikari said.

"We took on the heartless together. We're a team"

"It feels like you're right…" Leon said.

"But I can't remember"

Sora looked sad.

"Then I guess you won't remember what you told us" he said.

"In Hallow Bastion, when we sealed the keyhole: We may never meet again…"

"But we'll never forget each other" Leon finished.

Hikari's face lit up.

"See, you do remember!"

She remembered the bracelets that their mother gave them.

"Do you remember when mom gave us these bracelets? She said if we used them…"

"Then we could still see each other" Leon added.

Yuffie looked at Leon.

"They're right, Leon. I remember you saying that stuff and getting a bracelet"

"I guess I can't write it off as a coincidence then" Leon said.

"I don't have any memory of it, but somehow I still remember" Aerith said.

"I think your hearts are doing the remembering for us"

Sora and Hikari looked at their chests.

"Our…hearts?"

Aerith nodded.

"We don't know you, but your hearts are full of memories of us together. Those memories must resonate in our hearts, too. Maybe they tell us things we couldn't otherwise know"

"So you're saying Sora and Hikari's memories are affecting ours?" Leon asked.

"Their memories do seem to hold certain powers" Aerith admitted.

Hikari thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe it's like that guys said, then" she said.

"This town is just an illusion. Something created from our memories"

Aerith looked at them.

"And…there's someone special to you in this town?" she asked them.

Sora and Hikari looked surprised.

"How did you-ah, I get it" Sora said.

"Our memories resonate with yours, telling you what happened"

Hikari nodded.

"Yeah, a friend of ours is somewhere in this town- I mean, Castle Oblivion"

"Castle Oblivion?" Yuffie asked.

"What's that? There aren't any castles in here"

"That's not quite what we mean" Sora said.

"You're both not sure what's going on yourself, right?" Aerith asked.

They both nodded.

"Right. We just got here, after all" Hikari said.

"We want to take a better look around" Sora added.

"Then go have a walk around town" Leon said.

"There are heartless, but that shouldn't be a problem for you both"

Sora and Hikari smiled.

"You got that right" Sora said.

They walked out of the house and looked around the town some more.

/

They ran into a few casualties, but nothing serious.

They searched high and low for Riku and King Mickey, but came up empty handed.

They kept on walking until they reached the second district, where they found Cid.

"Uncle Cid!" Hikari cried.

Cid turned around and looked at them.

"Well, whaddaya know. It's Sora and Hikari" he said.

Everyone looked surprised.

Did Cid know them?

Cid rubbed his head.

"Wait, what am I saying?" he asked.

"I don't know you guys. But you DO look like a Sora and Hikari with those outfits you're wearing"

Hikari smiled sadly.

"It's ok, Uncle Cid. That's our names" she said.

Cid looked happy.

"So! You've heard of me, eh?" he asked.

"Well, I can't say that I'm surprised"

Hikari just giggled at the way her uncle was acting.

"Anyway, maybe you can help us out" Sora asked.

"A friend of ours is supposed to somewhere in this castle-er, town. Got any ideas of where he might be at?"

Cid looked at them.

"Your friend, huh?" he asked.

"Lately all this town sees is heartless. Can't even take two steps without getting attacked. In fact, this plaza's the worst. Word is, a jumbo- sized heartless shows up when that bell rings. If you value your hides, you'll get outta here while the gettin's good"

With that, he left.

Goofy looked at his friends.

"Gawrsh, maybe we should leave" he suggested.

Sora looked at him.

"Don't you want to see the heartless?" he asked.

"NO, we DON'T!" Donald said

Just then, the bell rang.

"Uh oh" Hikari said.

They looked around the area.

"Be careful, you guys!" Goofy said.

Everyone pulled out their weapons and prepaired themselves.

A guard armored heartless appeared before them.

Sora and Hikari attacked first.

Since they fought this heartless in the past, they knew all of its weaknesses.

Hikari attacked the legs while Sora got the arms.

It was always weaker when parts of its body was destroyed.

They continued to attack it until all that was left of the head.

Sora swung his keyblade like a baseball bat and hit the head square on.

It went flying and became a tiny speck in the sky.

Hikari high fived him when they defeated the heartless.

"Way to go, Sora"

Sora grinned.

"I still have it in me"

/

When the heartless was gone, Leon and the gang met up with them.

"So you're friend wasn't here?" Yuffie asked.

Since they couldn't find Riku or the King in this world, Sora and Hikari figured that they weren't here or they never were.

"No, we don't think we'll find him in this town" Sora said.

"But he's somewhere in this castle" Hikari said.

"I just know it"

"Castle?" Cid asked.

"Like this whole town's inside a humongous castle? Hoo, that's rich!"

"They're probably right, Cid" Leon said.

"We may not understand what's going on, but Sora and Hikari do. They can see that reality is bigger than just this world"

"I wish we were that sure" Hikari said.

"You'll both be ok" Leon said.

"No matter what shape reality takes, you both can handle it. I may not know you, but I remember you both in my heart"

"Ni-san" Hikari said.

Leon suddenly went up to her and gave her a tight hug.

"I don't know why, but my heart is telling me that it's ok to hug you like this" he said.

"Maybe you are my sister"

He let go of her and gave her a look.

"Even though I don't remember you, I want you to promise me that you'll be safe on this journey. I don't know what's going on, but I want you to be ok"

Hikari smiled.

She managed to get a hug from her brother, even though he was just a memory.

"I will Ni-san"

Leon smirked.

"That's good to know"

"Take care, you guys" Mikomi said.

"I'm a little, lost" Cid said.

"But best of luck anyway"

They all walked away and left the group.

Donald and Goofy started walking away.

Sora and Hikari were about to follow them, but Aerith came back.

Sora and Hikari looked at her.

"What's up?" Sora asked.

"I don't have all the answers, but I had to tell you something" Aerith said.

"Your memories created this town, right?"

Sora and Hikari nodded.

"That's what the guy who gave us the card told us" Hikari said.

"If that's true, then this town is just a figment of your mind…and so are we" Aerith said.

Sora and Hikari grew confused.

"But…you can't be a figment!" Sora said.

"You're standing right here. The town is here, too!" Hikari added.

"But I'm not really me" Aerith said.

"I don't remember the things I should. And I sense things I shouldn't"

She looked seriously at them.

"Sora, Hikari. Beware of your memories" she said.

"In the journey to come, you'll be faced with more illusions. Sometimes the shadows of your memory will deceive you, try to lead you astray"

Sora and Hikari looked confused.

"So, uh…what exactly does that mean?" Sora asked.

"I'm sorry" Aerith said.

"I'm just an illusion. The truth is out of my reach"

"Don't say stuff like that" Hikari said.

"It's depressing…"

"Stay strong. Sora and Hikari" Aerith said.

"Don't let the illusions distract you from what's truly important"

Sora and Hikari nodded.

"Okay"

"Sora! Hikari!" Donald called.

"Are you ready to go?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, be right there" Sora said.

Hikari turned to Aerith.

"Well, we'd better go" she said.

She was surprised when she saw Aerith was gone.

"Aerith?" she asked.

She looked around the area.

"Aerith!"

"What about Aerith?" Donald asked.

"Where did she go?" Hikari asked.

"We were just talking to her"

"Aerith left with Leon and the others, remember?" Goofy said.

Hikari looked at them.

"Huh?"

"You worried us. Just standing there by yourselves" Donald said.

Hikari looked at Sora.

"Is this what she meant?" she asked.

Sora shrugged.

"Probably" he said.

They left Traverse Town and returned to the castle.

/

**A/N: It must have been hard on Hikari to see her brother and not have him remember her. **

**Guess who we'll see in the next chapter? One of my favorite members of the Organization!**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**

**Ja ne!**


	4. Axel

Chapter 3: Axel

**A/N: Hey! Now we're at one of my favorite parts of the game! We get to meet one of my favorite members of the Organization!**

**For all you Axel lovers, this is for you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I simply own Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

The group had stepped out of Traverse Town and entered the next room to the castle.

Hikari thought it was nice to see everyone, but she was still confused by what Aerith said to her.

"_Beware of your memories"_

She didn't know what Aerith meant by that. She was still trying to recover her lost memories, so why should she be weary of them?

"_Could it be that there are some things that I shouldn't remember?" _she thought.

She remembered things about Ansem and what he tried to do to her and her mother. She didn't want to remember those, but she felt like she had to because it was a part of her past.

She just shook her head and followed Sora.

"_Memoires are so messed up" _she thought.

/

The cloaked man was waiting for them when they entered the room.

Sora and Hikari glared at him.

"Well, Sora and Hikari? Did you enjoy meeting your memories?" the man asked them.

"Yeah, it was good to see everyone" Sora said.

"But what do you really want from us?" Hikari asked.

There was something about this man that she didn't like. She didn't trust him.

"What do you have to give?" the man asked them.

He started walking towards them.

Everyone pulled out their weapons.

As he got closer, another man came out through the corridors of darkness and stood before them.

Unlike the other man, he had his hood down and revealed a head of flaming red hair that was spiked out everywhere. He had a set of green eyes with triangle tattoos underneath them and had pale skin.

He smiled at them and gave them a slight mock salute.

"Hello!" he said.

The cloaked man looked at him.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"No hogging the heroes!" The red head said.

The cloaked man didn't say anything. He simply threw a card at him and watched as he grabbed it.

"Then perhaps you'd like to test them" the cloaked man said.

"Perhaps I would" the red head said.

The cloaked man disappeared.

"My show now, keyblade masters" the red head said.

The group just looked at him strangely as he pointed to himself.

"Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel" he said.

"Got it memorized?"

"Uh…sure" Sora said.

"Yeah" Hikari said.

"Good, you're quick learners" Axel said.

"So Sora and Hikari, now that we're getting to know each other better…"

He summoned up a pair of flaming Chakrams.

"Don't you go off and die on me now!"

Sora and Hikari jumped into the fray with Donald and Goofy following behind.

Sora attacked Axel while Hikari cast Blizzard on him numerous times. She figured that since he used fire, then he would be weak against blizzard.

She did a slide dash when he threw one of his Chakrams at her.

Donald cast Blizzard on him as well while Goofy knocked Axel's Chakram's out of the way.

Sora and Hikari charged at Axel and landed the finishing blow to him.

/

When Axel was defeated, the card that he was holding onto before floated before them.

Hikari grabbed the card and examined it.

"Another one?" Goofy asked.

"What's it do?"

Jiminy examined it.

"Hmm. Kinda looks like the one you used when you both made Traverse Town" he said.

Sora looked at it.

"Then I guess we're gonna need it to keep going…" he said.

"That's right"

They looked up to see Axel leaning on the wall.

"Axel!" Donald cried.

Axel just smirked at them and walked over to them.

"Did you really think after that introduction, I would give up oh so easily?" he asked.

"You were testing us" Hikari said.

"And you passed" Axel said.

"Congratulations Sora and Hikari"

He smirked darkly at them.

"You're both ready now- ready to take on Castle Oblivion" he said.

"You will need to follow your memories. Trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then you will find someone very special"

"You mean King Mickey and Riku?" Goofy asked.

Axel just smirked.

"You will just have to give some more thought who it is that's- most important to you. Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts that they're out of reach."

He looked at Sora and Hikari.

"But I'm sure that you can find yours, Sora and Hikari"

"Why us?" Sora asked.

"You have lost sight of the light within the darkness" Axel said.

"And it seems that you've forgotten that you forgot"

"The light within the darkness…" Hikari said.

Axel held his hand out towards them.

"Would you like me to give you both a hint?" he asked.

Hikari thought about it.

She didn't understand what Axel meant.

What could she have forgotten?

Sure, she was still trying to regain her memories, but how could she forget anything?

"Do you need a hint?" Goofy asked them.

Hikari looked at Axel.

"I've been regaining my memories fine by myself" she said.

"I'm sure I can now"

Sora nodded.

"We're gonna figure it out for ourselves" he said.

"If you're in our way-"

"Don't worry! We'll protect you both!" Donald said.

Axel smirked and dropped his hand.

"Good answer" he said.

"Just what I'd expect from the keyblade masters"

Sora and Hikari held their keyblades out in case he tried to pull anything.

"But be forewarned" Axel said.

"When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now"

With that, he disappeared within a portal.

/

The group walked up to the next floor of the room.

Jiminy was sitting on Sora's shoulder thinking about something.

"Hmmm"

Hikari looked at him.

"What's wrong, Jiminy?" she asked.

Jiminy looked at her.

"Well, ya see, what Axel said back there worries me" he said.

"What could he meant by, 'you may no longer be who you are'?"

Sora looked at him.

"We may no longer be us?" he asked.

"How can we be anyone else?"

Jiminy looked at them and laughed nervously.

"Of course" he said.

"Still, you can't be too careful"

Goofy nodded.

"Yep. Feels like just about anything could happen here in Castle… Oblivi- Oblivi- Obliv-"

" Castle Oblivion" Donald corrected.

"Oh, yeah! Now I remember!"

Sora looked at the group.

"We'll be ok" he said.

"Whatever it is they're cooking up, we'll be able to handle it together"

Goofy nodded.

"Course we will, like at that creepy castle we explored together, the one with all those weird contraptions"

Hikari recalled that place.

"Oh yeah! That was my home world!" she said.

Sora thought about it.

"When was that?" he asked.

"I can't remember" Donald said.

"What was it called?"

Hikari tried to recall the name.

"It was Holla…Holly…Holler…"

She tried to remember it, but it just wouldn't pop into her head.

"Sorry, I can't remember" she said.

"And it was on the tip of my tongue"

"Stop goofing around" Donald said.

Hikari glared at him.

"Hey! I'm still trying to regain my memories!" she said.

"I probably haven't remembered it or something!"

"Goofy, you sure you didn't make it up?" Sora asked.

"I don't think so" Goofy said.

"It has to be real" Hikari said.

"Why else would I remember it?"

Sora just shrugged.

"Let's just keep going, we'll probably remember it then"

They walked towards the next level of the castle.

As they did, Hikari thought about the castle that Goofy mentioned.

"_I know that I went to that castle" _she thought.

"_But why can't I remember the name? I know it was my home world and that we were there before. What's going on?"_

She just shook her head and followed her friends up to the next level.

/

**A/N: Uh oh, they're starting to forget things, that can't be good.**

**I wonder what will happen next? **

**Don't worry, this won't be the last time that we see our favorite red head. He'll be popping up soon.**

**Remember to review and tell me what you think.**


	5. Halloween Town

Chapter 4: Halloween Town

**A/N: I know I said I wasn't going to do the worlds in this game since they're pretty much recaps, but since you all asked for this world, I decided to make an exception (plus this was my favorite world in the game) just don't expect me to do all of the worlds, because I want to get on with the story, ok? I'm only doing this once.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari**

**Enjoy!**

/

The cards that Axel gave them lead them to worlds that they've been to on their last journey.

Hikari picked a random one and they found themselves within Halloween Town.

The group walked through the area and noticed that they were in their costumes from before.

/

They walked into the square and looked around. The whole place looked dark and creepy, like they had just stepped into a horror film.

"Gawrsh! I don't like the looks of this place" Goofy said.

"I bet it's crawling with ghosts!"

Hikari resisted the urge to shiver.

Her fears over the dark started to take over her and right now she just wanted to hide.

"_Just remember, Hikari. Riku might be here, so suck it up!"_

She just bit the inside of her cheeks to prevent herself from screaming.

She needed to be brave for her friend's sakes.

"Aww, phooey!" Donald said.

"There's nothing to worry about. You won't be spooked if you already know what's coming! Not even real ghosts cane frighten us anymore. If they take one look at us, THEY'D be the ones to run away"

"You really think so?" Hikari said in a slightly shaky voice.

"Trust me" Donald said.

He walked over to the fountain that was in the center of the square.

Just then, a skeleton in a suit popped out.

"Welcome to Halloween Town!" it cried.

Donald screamed and jumped.

"A ghosts!"

Sora and Hikari pulled out their keyblades, thinking the skeleton would attack them.

Instead, it just laughed and looked at Donald.

"Wow, that was the best shriek I've heard in ages!" it said.

"If you're THAT easy to scare, we're gonna have a great time!"

Sora and Hikari put their weapons away. This skeleton didn't seem like it wanted to harm them.

The skeleton looked at them.

"Sorry, I haven't even introduced myself" it said.

"I'm Jack Skellington! And this is Halloween Town. People around here call me the Pumpkin King!"

He motioned around the town.

"So if you're looking for a ghoulishly good time, you've come to the right place"

"Well, we aren't!" Donald cried.

He was pretty embarrassed about being scared like that.

"Too bad" Jack said.

"Because at the moment, we've got a bit of a problem in Halloween Town"

"What kind of problem?" Sora asked.

"Well… like this!"Jack said.

A group of heartless surrounded them.

Everyone pulled out their weapons and attacked the heartless.

They were only a bunch of shadows, so the fight didn't last long.

When it was over, everyone turned to Jack.

"What's the big idea?" Donald yelled.

"Why'd you go and call the heartless?"

"I didn't call them" Jack said.

"I just knew when they were going to show up. In fact, I'd love to get rid of them. They actually go around attacking people, instead of just scaring them"

"Why are they here?" Hikari asked.

"I was just going to ask Dr. Finkelstein the same question" Jack said.

"I'm heading to his laboratory right now. Follow me!"

He walked away to head for the lab.

Donald looked at Sora and Hikari.

"What should we do?" Donald asked.

"I guess we'd better go" Sora said.

"I don't like this" Hikari said.

"What if he's leading us right to the heartless?"

Jack suddenly appeared before them and had a scary face on.

"Bingo! You saw right through me!"

Donald screamed again while Hikari hid behind Sora.

Jack just laughed.

"Just kidding!" he said.

"Now let's get going"

They followed Jack to the doctor's lab.

/

This place put Hikari on edge.

Not only was it creepy looking, but there were heartless everywhere.

She couldn't even take two steps without running into one.

"If I wasn't a keyblade master, I would be in real trouble right now" she said.

She simply took down every heartless that she crossed as they made it to the lab.

/

They arrived at the lab in a matter of minutes.

Jack walked over to the doctor.

"Allow me to introduce Dr. Finkelstein!" Jack said.

"He's a world-famous genius!"

The doctor moved his wheel chair around so he was facing everyone.

"Yes, maybe I'm TOO smart" the doctor said.

"I'm afraid I've created something horrible!"

"What's that?" Donald asked.

"Well…have you ever stopped to think about the power of 'true memories'?" The doctor asked.

"True memories?" Hikari asked.

"You see my dear, our hearts are full of memories" the doctor explained.

"But not all of them reflect the truth. The heart isn't a recording device. Even important memories change with time. They warp or fade, leaving us with but a shadow of what we hoped to remember"

Hikari thought about it.

Could that be happening to her?

She was still regaining her memories, could it be that some of them were not real?

"Could this be happening to us?" Sora asked.

"It happens to everyone" the doctor said.

"Some memories grow ugly, and some become more beautiful. If we could recover our true memories, this world would seem completely different. So I devised a potion from Forget-Me-Nots that brings our true memories back"

Hikari found that to be interesting.

"Did it work?"

"Well, that's the problem" the doctor said.

"As soon as the doctor got a whiff of the potion, heartless started popping up!" Jack said.

"Sounds like a failed experiment to me" Donald said.

The doctor glared at him.

"No! My research is flawless!" he cried.

"I just need another look at the potion to find out what went wrong!"

He wheeled over to one of his lab tables.

"Unfortunately…it's vanished" he said.

"Maybe some swiped it?" Sora asked.

"It must've been Sally!" the doctor said.

He looked at Jack.

"Jack, you've got to find her and get my potion back"

"Leave it to me" Jack said.

"Can we tag along?" Sora asked.

"What for?" Jack asked.

"We want to know more about these 'true memories' the doctor keeps talking about"

Jack seemed pleased.

"Excellent! Then let's go find Sally"

They all left the lab to go find Sally.

Hikari looked at Sora.

"Do you really want to find out about these 'true memories', Sora?" she asked.

Sora shrugged.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Besides, maybe this will help you regain your lost memories"

Hikari never thought about that.

She was doing fine regaining them on her own. Sure, it took a while, but it was better than getting nothing.

They walked through the town, trying to find Sally.

/

They eventually found her at the graveyard.

Sally seemed really surprised to see Jack.

"There you are, Sally" Jack said.

"I thought I'd find you here"

Sally looked at the group.

"Who are your friends?" she asked.

"They're interested in true memories" Jack said.

"You have the potion, don't you?"

"Well…yes" Sally said.

She held the potion in her hands.

"Could you give it back?" Sora asked.

Sally looked at him.

"I guess so, if you insist" she said.

"But…I'm afraid. All the doctor did was smell it, and the heartless appeared. What if someone drinks it?"

"Are you kidding?" Jack asked.

"What could be more exciting?"

Sally looked upset.

"I'm worried, Jack. Isn't there another way?"

Hikari had to admit that Sally had a point.

If heartless showed up just by smelling it, who knows what would happened if they drank it.

She looked at Jack.

"Any ideas, Jack?" she asked.

Jack thought for a moment.

"I can't think of a thing" he said.

"I can! Give it here!"

A giant burlap being suddenly appeared before them and snatched the potion before running off.

Sally panicked.

"Oh no! The potion!"

Jack glared at the Burlap being.

"Oogie! You again!" he declared.

Oogie Boogie just laughed.

"Jack, where are your manner?" he asked.

He held up the potion.

"I'm just helping you put the potion to good use. You should thank me!"

He looked at it.

"Well, well. Just one whiff and heartless appeared. What would happen if I chugged the whole thing? THAT would be scary!"

He simply laughed.

"Poor Jack! You can't hold a candle to Oogie Boogie. Halloween Town is going to taste pain and despair beyond any nightmare!"

With that, he ran away.

"Pain and despair?" Jack asked.

"Oogie, you monster!"

Sora looked at him.

"Come on, Jack. We've gotta go after him!"

They all ran out of the grave yard and chased after Oogie.

/

Jack knew the Oogie would be hiding at his lair, so that's where they ran off to.

A few heartless got in the way, but that didn't stop Hikari and the others.

They made it to Oogie's hideout and had him cornered.

"Oogie! Hand over the potion!" Jack declared.

Oogie just looked at them.

"You fools don't know when to quit!" he said.

A sly smirk appeared on his face.

"Say…all this running around is making me thirsty!"

Jack panicked.

"Oogie! No!"

"Yes!"

He pulled out the potion and chugged it down.

"Oh no" Hikari said.

"Ahh, lip-smacking good!" Oogie said.

He suddenly grabbed his head.

"Ugh, what's this?"

He started acting funny.

"What…something's wrong!" Oogie cried.

"Something deep inside me. Something…scary!"

"Oogie, what's going on?" Jack asked.

Oogie panicked.

"No! Get back! Stay away!"

Everyone drew out their weapons.

"It's no use. He's lost it" Hikari said.

"We need to stop him before it gets worse"

They attacked Oogie without mercy.

It was a little hard since his hide out was rigged with traps.

He would send them on this spinning roulette wheel to try to keep them at bay.

Hikari managed to figure out the tricks to Ooige's traps and was able to get to the burlap bag.

They attacked him until there was nothing left to his body but an empty sack.

/

When the fight was over, they went back to the lab and told the doctor what had happened.

"Confound that Oogie Boogie!" the doctor cried.

"He drank nearly all of my precious potion! There are only a few drops left!"

Sora looked at Hikari.

"Why don't you ask the doc if you can drink the rest?" he asked.

Hikari thought about it for a moment.

She wanted to regain her lost memories badly, but after seeing what the potion did to Oogie, she didn't think it was such a good idea.

"No, I'd better not" she said.

The doctor looked at her.

"What, don't you want it?" he asked.

"Too bad. It would've been a great experiment"

"Now doctor…" Sally said.

"Don't you want to find out about your true memories?" Jack asked.

Hikari nodded.

"Of course- now more than ever" she said.

"But there's this guy-Axel" Sora said.

"We promised him we'd find the truth on our own"

The doctor looked at the bottle.

"I just don't understand. When I inhaled the potion, heartless appeared-and when Oogie drank it, he was overcome with fear. What could it mean?"

"It means the potion was a failure" Sally said.

The doctor shook his head.

"No! I can't be wrong! Oogie MUST have found his true memories!"

He thought about it.

"Hmmm…True memories must unbalance the heart-and cause unpredictable changes within!"

Sora and Hikari thought about themselves.

"Then…what about us?" Sora asked.

"What happens when our true memories awaken?"

"Perhaps something even more terrifying" the doctor said.

"But this is all just a hypothesis. I can't be sure without further research "

Hikari looked nervous.

Her true memories could be worse than what happened to Oogie? She didn't like the sound of that.

"What's wrong, Hikari?" Jack asked.

"Does the doctor's theory scare you?"

Hikari looked at him.

"Well, yeah-a little" she admitted.

"That's good to hear!" Jack said.

"Fear and doubt are signs of a strong heart. They push your heart, strike out in new directions, take chances! Without them, your zest for life might fade….as would your taste for fear. And believe me, that would really ruin my fun"

Hikari giggled a little.

"Thanks, Jack. I'll remember that"

"Then good luck!" Jack said.

"May you always enjoy being frightened!"

They bid their farewells and left the lab.

Sora and Hikari ran through Halloween Town until they reached the door that would lead them to the next level of the castle.

"I hope we don't run into any more guys like that Axel character in the next room" Hikari said.

Sora just laughed as he opened the door.

"Relax, Hikari" he said.

"What could possibly go wrong?"

"I have no idea" she said.

"But that's what I'm afraid of"

They walked through the door and returned to the castle.

/

**A/N: And there you go. That will probably be the only world that I'll do from the cards besides the main ones like Twilight Town and Destiny Islands.**

**I hoped you liked it. **

**Remember to review and tell me what you think!**

**Ja ne!**


	6. What's going on?

Chapter 5: What's going on?

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm in a very good mode since the Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup! And being a Chicago chick, that's saying a lot.**

**So, since I'm in such a good mood, I've decided to update the newest chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, but I do own Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Everyone entered the next room to the castle.

It felt a little weird since every other room that they entered was a different world. It was like stepping into the Twilight Zone or something.

They walked down the hallway to head for the next room.

Goofy stopped walking as he thought about something.

Hikari looked at him.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Goofy looked at his friends when they stopped.

"It's the creepy castle that I was talking about earlier" he said.

"I know I didn't imagine it. 'Cause that was the castle where Sora and Hikari had to use the keyblade to free Kairi's heart. Then they just went 'poof'. And I was so worried. How could I ever forget that?"

Sora and Hikari recalled those events.

Sora had released his heart so Kairi's heart could return to her.

Hikari let her heart be released to finish the keyhole so she could save Riku from Ansem's clutches.

They both remembered what that lead to as well.

"Oh! That's when we turned into heartless!" Hikari said.

"Wait. That happened…in a castle?" Sora asked.

"Awww…you forgot that?" Donald asked.

"Cause I remember it perfectly"

"Then what's it called?" Hikari asked.

She knew that those events happened in a castle. It was on her home world, yet she couldn't even remember the name of it.

"That' easy" Donald said.

"It was…"

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to remember the name.

When he couldn't think of it, he turned to Jiminy.

"Jiminy, help me. Is it in your journal?"

The little cricket suddenly popped out.

"Ever word!" he said.

He jumped off of Sora's shoulder and landed on the ground.

"I finished the first volume right before we got to this castle"

He pulled out his little journal.

"Let's have a look"

He opened it and looked through the pages.

He panicked when he looked through his journal.

"Oh! How can this be?" he exclaimed.

"What's the matter?" Goofy asked.

"All my entries-they're gone!" Jiminy cried.

"Every page is blank!"

Everyone panicked.

There was no way that this could happen. They all knew that Jiminy took extra care of his journals. They were his life's work.

"What'll we do?" Donald cried.

"How could this have happened?" Jiminy asked.

"I'm so careful with the journals!"

He started to sob a little.

"All that hard work is gone…."

Hikari knelt next to the little bug.

"There, there, Jiminy" she said softly.

Sora looked around the castle.

"The journal's blank" he said.

"What's going on?"

Hikari stood up with Jiminy in her hands. The poor cricket was still crying.

"I don't know" she said.

"But whatever it is, I don't like it"

They walked down the hallways until they reached the stairs that lead to the next floor.

/

In another part of the castle, the girl continued drawing in her sketch book.

She smiled contently as she worked on her latest creation.

/

Back with our heroes, they walked up to the next floor of the castle.

They were a little frazzled with Jiminy's journal going blank.

There was no way that could happen at all.

"Something's screwy" Donald said.

"Journal pages just don't vanish!"

Hikari stopped walking.

Donald had a point. It seemed that there was more to this castle.

She couldn't help that there was more that they were missing besides journal entries.

"What if…it's more things?" she asked.

Everyone stopped walking and looked at her.

She looked at the group.

"Goofy was telling us about another castle we'd been to…but none of us really remember it. I know for a fact that it's real since it was from my home world, but I can't recall the name. I know I knew it once, but now it's all fuzzy in my head"

She looked worriedly at her friends.

"Do you think…could it be that we don't remember because we're losing our memories?"

She thought it was true.

She lost her memories once, who's to say that she wasn't losing them again?

"Losing? Our memories?" Donald asked.

Hikari nodded.

Jiminy suddenly popped up on Hikari's shoulder.

"Hold on!" he said.

"Remember what that mystery fella said? 'In this place to find is to lose, and to lose is to find'. It musta been our memories he was talking about losing!"

Hikari groaned.

So she was right.

Just when she was remembering her past, she was starting to forget about it again.

"_Super. This is just what I need" _she thought.

"So if we keep going, we'll lose more…" Sora said.

"Guess it really is Castle Oblivion"

"So the higher we go, the more we'll forget?" Donald asked.

"It seems like it" Hikari said.

Donald looked worried.

"Does that mean everything and everybody will be forgotten?" he asked.

Sora looked upset.

"Riku and Kairi too…"

Hikari bit her lip.

"And mom" she added.

She just couldn't bear the thought of forgetting the people that she loved the most.

She was on this journey to find Riku. Not only that, but her mother was with him. If she forgot about them, it would just tear her apart. They meant so much to her. She just couldn't forget them.

Donald looked at them sadly.

He knew how much Riku and Kairi meant to them.

He felt the same way about his girlfriend, Daisy.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked.

Hikari thought about it. Should she go back? Sure, she would prevent herself from losing any more memories, but she would be risking the chance of not seeing Riku. What if he was somewhere within the castle? She had to find him.

Goofy went up to them.

"Don't worry, fellas" he said.

"We might forget about where we've been or what things we've seen. But we won't forget about who are friends are"

Donald looked at him skeptically.

"I don't know…" he said.

Goofy looked at Sora and Hikari.

"Come on, you two. When you turned into heartless, did you forget about me and Donald?"

They both shook their heads.

"Of course we didn't!" Sora said.

Goofy smiled.

"There ya go!" he said.

"No matter what happens, you won't forget your friends"

Hikari thought about it.

Now that he mentioned it, Goofy did have a point.

Even thought she was forgetting stuff, she still remembered her friends.

She remembered about how they stuck together this far and how they were going to find Riku, the King, and her mom.

As long as she thought about them, then she wouldn't risk the chance of forgetting them.

She smiled at Goofy.

"You're right" she said.

"Thank you, Goofy" Sora added.

"So, if there's nothing here that can make you forget about your friends…" Donald said.

"Then we have nothing to be scared of! Let's go!"

He started walking off towards the stairs.

Sora smirked at him.

"But when we turned into heartless...who was the one who took forever to notice and kept clobbering me?"

Donald stopped walking, and glared at Sora.

"How come you didn't forget about that?" he asked.

Everyone just laughed as Donald threw a fit.

Hikari wiped the tears from her eyes.

"_I may be forgetting about a few things" _she thought.

"_But at least I haven't forgotten about my friends"_

They walked through the next room of the castle and encountered another world that they been to before.

/

**A/N: Poor Jiminy, all of his hard work went down the drain. It seems that everyone is forgetting more things as they go deeper within the castle.**

**I wonder what Hikari is going to forget next. Or rather, **_**who **_**will she forget? It's bound to be someone special to her.**

**I apologize for the chapters being short, but look on the bright side, I'll be updating quicker this way!**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**

**Ja ne!**


	7. Who's That?

Chapter 6: Who's That?

**A/N: I'm sure everyone can tell what's going to happen by the title of this chapter. **

**Sorry if theses chapters are so short, but I want to get this section of the game out of the way so I can focus on the others.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Everyone walked up through the next set of doors to the castle.

They didn't know if they forgot about anything else, but they hoped that they didn't.

"I hope the King is gonna be ok" Donald said.

Sora looked at him.

"Why bring that up?" he asked.

"I had to be sure that I didn't forget about him" Donald said.

"How'd that go for ya?" Goofy asked.

Donald smiled.

"Good. I remembered- we're on a quest to find the king"

Goofy smiled.

"I remember that too" he said.

"The King helped save everything by staying on the other side of the door to darkness. I think…"

"You go it, Goofy" Donald said.

Hikari smiled softly.

"And me- I'm looking for Riku" she said.

"He was with the king when the door was closed"

She was glad that she didn't forget about him.

"Hm. I guess there's no way we'll forget the most important memories"

"That's good" Donald said.

" Cause I don't want to forget …"

They continued walking though the castle, oblivious that they were being watched.

/

Off in another part of the castle, Axel was watching Sora and Hikari with a fellow member.

She was female that had short blond hair with two strands that were shaped like antenna's and had hard green eyes.

She wore the same kind of coat as Axel was wearing.

She smirked darkly as she watched Sora and Hikari progress further into the castle.

She looked up at Axel to see that he was watching them as well.

"You seem pretty intrigued by this Sora and Hikari" she said.

Axel looked up at her dully.

"Are you telling me that you're not, Larxene?" he asked.

Larxene laughed darkly.

"Haven't decided yet" she said.

"I think what intrigues me more is what you see in them"

Axel just looked at Sora and Hikari.

They were simply oblivious to what was happening to them.

"There was a time they became heartless" he said.

"And if one become a heartless- "

"They lose their minds and their feelings" Larxene finished.

"They're consumed by the darkness"

Axel nodded.

"Right. But not them" he said.

"They held onto their feelings, even as heartless. And there's only one other man who's been able to do just that"

Larxene thought about what he had said.

"It's the strength of their hearts" she said.

She smirked darkly at him.

"That's what interests you. Why the keyblades chose Sora and Hikari's hearts"

Axel nodded.

"Not only that, but Hikari is one of the princesses of heart" he said.

"Heartless are created from the darkness in people's hearts. But since Hikari is one of the princesses, which are said to not have any darkness in their heart at all…then why did she become a heartless? Surely there's more to that than meets the eye"

Larxene laughed evilly.

"That is quite interesting"

Axel looked at her seriously.

"To unlock the mysteries of the heart" he said.

"Isn't that the Organization's mission?"

Larxene didn't say anything.

She simply looked at him and smiled darkly.

/

Back with the group, everyone walked down the hallways.

Hikari went through the cards to see which one they should use first.

She still found it odd that they had to use cards to go through the next room of the castle, but she wasn't complaining.

If this was how she was going to find Riku, she would deal with it.

"Hey, I wonder if there's anything we've forgotten" Donald said.

Everyone stopped to think about it for a moment.

"Hmm….if we did, what would it have been?" Goofy asked.

Everyone thought about what they could have forgotten.

Hikari still remembered about Riku and her mother, so that was good.

She couldn't think of anything else that was important besides that.

"I can't think of anything, so maybe that means that I really am losing my memoires" she said.

Sora and Donald looked at her sadly.

"But whatever they were, they couldn't have been very important memories, right?" Goofy asked.

Everyone looked at him.

Sora nodded.

"Right, or else I don't think we would have forgotten it" he said.

He pulled out the lucky charm that Kairi had given him.

"Look"

Donald and Goofy looked at it.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"A good luck charm Kairi gave me" Sora said.

"It's special to her, so I promised that I would return it"

He held it close to his chest.

"I'll never forget making that promise. It's why I could never forget Kairi"

Hikari touched her neck.

She remembered that she gave Riku her lucky charm so he would come back to her.

"And I remember giving Riku my pendant" she said.

"I remember making a promise with him that he would return it to me once we found him. Not only that, but my mom is with him too"

She placed a hand over her heart.

"She sealed part of her heart within my pendant so she could keep me safe. But since she's with Riku, she has to keep him safe. I could never forget about her, after everything that's she's done for me on our journey. She's so important to me"

She smiled wistfully.

"I'll never forget our promise"

The whole room seemed to fade away.

She didn't see the white room, only this black area.

"Am I right, mom?"

She saw an image of Taiyouko standing before her.

She still looked as beautiful as ever with her pure while dress and long brown hair.

Her green eyes seemed to sparkle as she smiled at her daughter.

Hikari never realized how much she looked like her mother until just then.

She had the same shade of hair as she did and even the same eye color.

She really was her carbon copy in a way.

Hikari smiled at her.

Just then, Taiyouko's face started to get blurry.

Her body faded away and was replaced with that of a young girl with blond hair.

Hikari looked at her in confusion.

She couldn't see the girls face, but she found her to be strangely familiar.

"Huh?"

The image suddenly vanished and she found herself back within the white.

She heard Sora mumbling something.

"Do I know…that girl?"

Everyone looked at him strangely.

"Sora?" Hikari asked.

Sora snapped back into reality.

"Sorry. Never mind" he said.

He looked puzzled as they walked.

Hikari was the same way.

She wondered why she suddenly saw that girl.

She didn't see her face, but she looked a lot like someone she knew.

She found that to be very odd.

"_Who was that?"_

She tried to recall the image of her mother, but all she could see was a blurry image of her.

She couldn't see her face, just her figure.

She grabbed her head.

"_What in the world is going on?"_

/

**A/N: I'm sure everyone can guess who Hikari's is going to forget. Poor Hikari, she never gets cut any slack.**

**Do any of your guys wonder how Hikari became a heartless? **

**Even though this was short, please review and tell me what you think.**

**JA ne!**


	8. What Girl?

Chapter 7: What Girl?

**A/N: Now it seems like everyone is starting to recall a certain girl. Will Hikari remember her?**

**You'll just have to find out.**

**Since I'm not getting a lot of reviews due to the chapters being short, I've decided to combine some of the scenes together to make them longer. Hopefully, that'll help.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

It almost felt like Hikari was walking through a maze as she went deeper into the castle.

All of the rooms looked the same and she felt like she was going in circles.

As she kept walking with her friends, she thought about that girl that she saw in her head.

She knew for a fact that she never meet her.

Sure, she was forgetting her memories, but she knew she never meet someone with blond hair.

She also recalled Sora talking about another girl on the last floor.

Could it be that he saw the same thing that she did?

She didn't think that was possible.

But with everything that was happening, it seemed like anything was possible in this castle.

They kept walking through the hallway that they were in.

She had lost count over how many levels they had gone so far.

Sora was deep in thought as they went up the stairs.

"_He's probably thinking about what happened on the last floor" _she thought.

He suddenly stopped when they reached the top of the stairs.

"Who could that have been before in my memory?" he asked himself.

"It wasn't Kairi…but another…girl?"

He crossed his arms as he thought.

"Maybe…I think her name was…."

Hikari looked at him.

He seemed to be really obsessed with what happened at the lower level.

"Sora" she said.

Sora jumped a little at being called.

Donald seemed irritated that he was holding them up.

"Let's go!" he said.

"You want to find Riku and the King, don't you?"

Sora looked at him.

"Um, sure"

They continued walking through the castle.

/

The girl that was at a different end of the castle was continuing to draw.

She drew a picture of Sora, Riku and Kairi standing next to this girl with blond hair.

In the background, Hikari was seen looking at the group while Taiyouko was watching over her.

The girl seemed sad as she drew the picture.

She flipped over the page and started working on one of the pictures that she started before.

This time, it was a picture of Riku and Hikari.

The two of them were holding hands and they had Hikari's pendant wrapped around their wrists, tying them together.

/

Hikari and the others continued to walk through the castle.

She still couldn't find Riku, but she wasn't going to give up.

"_I've come too far to quit now" _she thought.

They walked until Sora stopped them.

"I remember!"

Everyone looked at him.

"There was another girl!"

Donald and Goofy looked around the area.

"What? A girl? Where?"

Sora waved them off.

"No, no. I mean on the islands where I used to live" he said.

"Besides Kairi , Riku, and Hikari, there was one other girl I was friends with. We played all the time"

Hikari looked at Sora.

She didn't recall playing with another girl.

The only people she played with were him, Riku and Kairi.

"_What is he talking about?" _she thought.

Jiminy appeared on Hikari's shoulder.

"Sora..." he said.

"Seems to me that's the first time you've mentioned her"

Sora nodded.

"Yeah…I guess I forgot all about her" he said.

"I think…she just suddenly went away when I was really little"

"What do you think made you remember that now?" Donald asked.

"I'm not sure" Sora said.

"But it's been coming back in pieces as we go through the castle"

"Gawrsh, do you remember her name?" Goofy asked.

Sora shook his head.

"I don't remember" he said.

"I feel kind of dumb. We said we weren't gonna forget our friends, and well now…I can't even remember her name"

He looked at Hikari.

"How about you, Hikari? Do you know her name?"

Hikari shook her head.

"I don't even know what you're talking about" she said.

"I don't recall a another girl that we played with. I just remember Kairi. Are you sure you weren't imagining it?"

"Of course I didn't" Sora said.

"Why would I make something up like this?"

Hikari shrugged.

"I don't know. I just don't remember another girl, that's all"

"Aww, you shouldn't be worrying none" Goofy said.

"You're still regaining your lost memoires. Maybe it's taking you a lot longer to remember this girl than it is for Sora. I'm sure you'll remember her name"

Hikari just looked at him.

Maybe he was right?

She was still trying to remember her past. But it was all from before she came to the islands.

She remembered being on the islands perfectly. She remembered that it was just her, Sora, Riku and Kairi that she hung out with. There was no other girl.

She just shook it off.

"We should keep moving" she said.

"We have to find Riku and the King"

They all nodded and went up the stairs.

Hikari used one of the cards to get up to the next level.

She looked at Sora as they walked.

She couldn't understand why he would suddenly remember about some girl.

He was even acting a little funny about it as well. It was like he was acting like some love sick boy over his crush.

"_What is wrong with you, Sora?"_

/

As they reached the next room, Donald looked at Sora.

"Sora, is there anything else you remember about that other girl?"

"Hmmm….Just bits and pieces" Sora said.

"Maybe you should try tellin' us some more stuff about her" Goofy said.

He looked at Hikari.

"Have you started to remember about that girl Sora was talking about?"

Hikari shook her head.

"No, I still don't recall anyone"

"Then maybe you'll remember something if Sora talks about her"

They all looked at Sora.

"So, what do you know about this girl?"

Sora thought about it.

"Well, uhh….she was quiet…and always drawing" he began.

"When we'd go to the beach, she'd draw a picture instead of swimming. Sometimes she'd draw us too! She was really good. I remember Riku and I fighting over who she'd draw next. But one day, she was gone, just like that. I think the grown-ups knew the reason. They might have even have tried to explain some of it to me. But I was little, I probably didn't understand what was happening. I remember crying after she was gone. But…that's all. I still don't remember her name"

"Oh, I'll bet you'll remember it in no time" Donald said.

Sora nodded before turning to Hikari.

"Well? Now do you remember her?"

Hikari shook her head.

She tried to recall someone of that description, but she just couldn't picture the person in her head.

"No. I'm coming up with blanks" she said.

"I don't remember someone who always drew"

Sora looked sad for a moment before an idea came to him.

"Oh! You have that power where you can see other people's memories! Why don't you try to look through my memories to see if you can remember her"

That did sound like a good idea.

Hikari just shrugged and grabbed his hand.

The only way she could look through his memories is if she made physical contact or if she looked him right in the eye.

She held his hand tightly and closed her eyes.

She looked deep within his heart to try to find the girl he was talking about.

She picked up a few memories of when they were kids and played on the islands.

She found one where Sora and Riku were little.

They were playing swords while someone was watching them.

She couldn't see who it was. She only saw a blurred outline.

She figured it was a person, but she couldn't see the face or what the person was wearing.

She let go of Sora's hand and opened her eyes.

"Sorry, I couldn't see her. All I saw were blurs"

Sora looked at her sadly.

Just then, Jiminy popped up.

"I should point out" he said.

"Sora keeps remembering things instead of forgetting them. It seems to me forgetting things may be the only way- to reach the memories buried deeper down inside each of us"

Hikari looked at the little cricket.

"So we should forget in order to remember?" she asked.

Sora crossed his arms.

"Like those guys said…" he said.

"'Our most precious memories lie so deep in our hearts, that they're out of reach'. All that stuff about finding being losing and losing being finding. I didn't get it at first, but maybe this is what they meant"

"Gawrsh, Sora, I think I'm a little jealous of ya" Goofy said.

"How come, me, Donald, Hikari and Jiminy aren't remembering more stuff from our memories ?"

Hikari had to admit that he did have a point.

Why couldn't she remember anything, yet Sora could?

Was it because she lost her memories before and it was taking her longer to remember everything?

This wasn't fair.

Donald didn't seem to like it either.

"Come on! Let's get going" he said.

"We've got to forget things faster!"

They walked further into the castle.

Hikari bit her lip as they walked.

She didn't like forgetting things, but she wanted to know who this girl was that Sora kept talking about.

They went up the stairs and headed for the next level.

/

Axel and Larxene observed out heroes as they walked through the castle.

Larxene smirked darkly.

"Just as we intended…although, not all is going according to plan" she said.

She frowned slightly.

"It seems that Hikari still hasn't remembered the girl. This is going to be a problem"

Axel just looked at her.

"We'll continue with our plan" he said.

"Let's see how far this group will go"

He looked at Hikari.

"As for Hikari, just give her some time. She's bound to remember sooner or later"

He went to leave to have another round with them, but Larxene stopped him.

"You had your fun on the first floor" she said.

"So this time, it's my turn"

Axel didn't say anything to her.

He simply handed her a card.

Larxene laughed darkly as she walked up to him.

She touched his face and watched as he pulled away.

"I'm not going to just give it to them" she said.

"Besides, perhaps beating up Hikari a little will get her to remember the girl"

Axel didn't even look at her.

"Don't break them" he said.

Larxene had a sly smirk on her face.

"Well…do I detect a soft spot?" she asked.

She walked away from him a little.

"I'm not going to break the toys" she said.

"I'm not dumb"

Axel jus looked at her coldly.

"Don't forget" he said.

"Sora and Hikari are the keys. We need them if we're going to take over the Organization"

Larxene placed a finger over his mouth to shush him.

She smirked darkly at him.

"I know you're in on it too…" she said.

"But keep it under your hood, at least until the time is right"

She disappeared through a dark portal and left Axel alone.

The red head just smirked darkly.

He pulled out a crescent moon necklace out of his coat pocket and looked at it.

"You would have been wise to have done the same, Larxene"

/

The group continued to walk through the castle.

So far, Hikari couldn't remember anything about that girl Sora was talking about.

She was starting to think that he was making this up, but the memoires that she saw in him told her otherwise.

She figured she had to be real if she could see an outline of her.

Maybe she just had to walk deeper within the castle.

Goofy looked at Sora.

"So, Sora, did anything back there help you remember your friend's name?" he asked.

Sora tried to recall it, but couldn't think of anything.

"Uhh…Her name's the only thing I can't seem to remember" he said.

He turned to Hikari.

"How about you? Did you finally start to remember her?"

Hikari shook her head.

"Nope"

Donald turned to her.

"You've gotta try" he said.

"Hurry up and remember her!"

Hikari just sighed as they continued to walk.

As they headed for the stairs, she could help but feel uneasy.

She had a bad feeling about the next level.

Like something horrible was about to happen.

/

**A/N: I'm sure you all know who's going to show up in the next chapter. Things are going to get ugly for Hikari and the others.**

**It seems like no matter how hard she tries, she can't remember the girl that Sora is talking about.**

**And whose necklace was Axel holding? You'll just have to find out later on in the story.**

**Please review my story! I'm only getting one or two of them for each chapter! I got more than that from my last story! If you want me to review soon, then please, for the love of god, review!**

**Ja ne!**


	9. Larxene

Chapter 8: Larxene

**A/N: I'm sure everyone knows what's going to happen in this chapter: Cat fight! Larxene deserves a serious beating and who can give it to her than Hikari? She may be sweet and understanding at times, but if you get on her bad side, she will tear you apart (just ask the shark from Atlanitca in A Trail of Memories)**

**Hopefully, this will get me a lot of reviews, so enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

When they made it to the next floor, they were greeted by an unfriendly face.

Larxene smirked at them coldly as she saw her little guests.

Hikari noticed that she wore a coat similar to Axel and that mystery man.

She pulled out her keyblade and pointed it at her.

"I bet you work with Axel" she said.

Larxene just snickered.

"Too clever. I'm Larxene" she said.

"So…are you enjoying your stay at the castle? I bet it's nice to peel away all the worthless memories and awaken the true memories…that lie deep in your hearts"

"True memories?" Sora asked.

Hikari had heard the same thing from the cloaked man from before.

What did they mean by true memories?

Larxene looked at them with mock disappointment.

"Although…it seems that you're both still forgetting the most important thing here" she said.

"When that poor girl hears that you've both forgotten her name, why…it'll just…it'll break her heart"

Sora looked at her.

"Poor girl?" he asked.

"Do you know her?"

Hikari looked at Larxene strangely.

Was she talking about the same girl that Sora was remembering?

"Do you mean that girl Sora was friends with?" she asked.

Larxene gasped dramatically.

"You mean you don't remember her?" she asked.

She grabbed her chest.

"Talk about cruel. You used to be best friends growing up. If she finds out that her best friend forgot about her, it's just going to crush her"

Hikari raised an eyebrow.

She was friends with another girl?

She didn't recall hanging out with any of the girls on the islands. She always played with Sora and Riku instead of the girls. She thought the girls were too girly for her.

Yet why did it seem like Larxene was telling the truth?

She knew she was friends with a girl on the islands, but her name was a blur to her right now.

Sora looked a little uneasy at the mention of this mysterious girl.

"Is she…here?" he asked.

Larxene smirked darkly.

"Yes, she is" she said.

"You see, the bad guys are holding her captive somewhere deep inside the castle. And you two are obviously the heroes, so you have to go save her"

She smirked darkly.

"Although…"

She suddenly rushed at them.

Sora pushed Hikari out of the way and got kicked in the stomach by Larxene.

A yellow star charm flew out of his pocket and landed on the floor.

"Sora!" Hikari cried.

Larxene just glared at them.

"_I'm _a bad guy, so you have to go through me!" she said.

Hikari glared at her.

"You" she growled.

She didn't like it when people picked on her friends. Call it an overprotective gene if you will.

Sora looked at the charm that was on the ground.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Is that thing mine?"

"What a shame…you've been wearing it all this time and forgot?" Larxene asked.

"No….that's not possible. The memory has to be engraved somewhere deep inside your heart. Sora-you think carefully now"

She slowly walked up to them.

"What oh what could it be? And who gave it to you?"

Sora looked at the charm.

"Na…" he said.

"Na…mi…?"

Larxene smirked darkly.

"Sora…Sora….you're getting it now" she said.

"Release the memory from within your heart!"

Sora slowly got on his hands and knees.

He tried to recall the person who gave him that charm.

"Nami…" he said

"Namine"

"_Namine?" _Hikari thought.

"_Who the heck is Namine?"_

Was she that girl Sora started to remember?

She tried to recall if she ever heard of a girl by the name of Namine, but came up blank.

She didn't know what was going on with her.

Larxene walked up to the charm.

"Well, it's about time" she said.

"That's right…Namine"

She picked it up.

"Yes, she's the one that gave you that tacky good luck charm. Not that you even bother to remember"

She twirled the charm around her finger.

"No surprise, seeing as you also couldn't remember her _name_"

She started to fake cry.

"Talk about heartless! I can't believe you!"

She looked at Hikari.

"But not as much as your little girlfriend here. She can't even remember her, period. What a cruel friend"

Hikari growled at her.

She had just about had it with this chick and she was getting on her last nerves.

"Watch it, bitch" she hissed.

She just glared at them and held the charm up.

"It'd serve you right if I decided to smash this piece of junk!"

She held it tightly within her hand and was about to crush it.

Sora quickly got to his feet.

"Let it go!"

He struck her hand with his keyblade and caught the charm.

He glared at her as he held the charm close to him.

"Namine gave me this" he said.

"It's very important to me!"

Larxene shook her hand to stop it from stinging before glaring at him.

"Oh, it's important to you?" she asked.

Electricity started to slither around her body.

She summoned up a handful of little throwing knives and held them between her fingers.

"Ten seconds ago, you didn't even know what it was!"

Hikari glared at her and raised her keyblade.

"Oh, just shut up you old hag!" she said.

"Nobody asked for your opinion!"

She and Sora charged at Larxene with full force.

She proved to be a lot tougher than Axel.

Since she had control over lightning, she was quick and precise with her movements.

She would throw her knives around them and make an electric field.

Hikari and Donald would counter it with their magic, while Goofy knocked the knives out of the way.

Sora was filled with rage as he fought Larxene.

He wouldn't let anyone fight her.

This was revenge to him in a way.

He wanted her to suffer. He wanted her to pay for tormenting him like she did.

Hikari was a little freaked out as she watched her friend fight.

She had never seen him fight this way before.

It almost reminded her of a certain silver haired boy.

Sora landed the finishing blow and knocked the knives out of Larxene's hands.

She flipped out of the way before he could hit her again.

She smirked darkly at the group.

"Hmph. You're not as bad as I thought" she said.

"You really are a hero. A heartless hero"

Hikari glared at her.

"Who asked you?" she snapped.

She wasn't going to allow this witch to mock her friends.

"Oh, does it hurt because it's the truth?" Larxene asked in a baby voice.

"You are just a bunch of babies"

She held up a card.

"And if you're gonna be babies, then here you go"

She threw it at them, which Sora caught with ease.

"I created another card from your memories, you know" she said.

"Be good little children and say 'thanks'"

Hikari glared at her.

"Suck it!" she said.

Larxene just laughed wickedly.

"Ta-ta"

She disappeared through a dark portal.

Sora glared at where she was before.

"Wait, Larxene!"

He ran up to the spot where she once stood.

He swung his keyblade in anger.

"Where are you? Don't you dare hide from me! Show yourself!"

He swung his keyblade around some more.

Hikari's anger washed away when Larxene vanished and was now replaced with worry.

She had never seen Sora act like this before in her life.

Sure, he got angry from time to time, but never like this.

Especially if it dealt with a girl.

She had to admit, even though she now knew Namine's name, she still couldn't remember her.

She felt bad about it, especially considering the fact that she was supposedly best friends with this girl.

Donald and Goofy looked at Sora with concern.

This was the first time they saw him act like this and they didn't know what to do about it.

Jiminy held onto Sora's hood tightly so he wouldn't fall off.

"Sora, calm down!" he said.

"She's not coming back"

Sora stopped hitting the air and glared at the ground.

Hikari slowly went up to her friend.

"Sora?" she asked.

He didn't even look at her.

"I hate this…" he said.

"Why'd I need someone like that to bring back…Namine's memory?"

Hikari looked at her friend sadly.

She went up to him and hugged him tightly.

"It's ok" she said softly.

"Forget about what that witch said. At least you remembered her name, that's all that matters, right?"

Sora hugged her in return.

"You're right" he said.

He smiled softly at her.

"Thanks, Hikari"

Hikari let go of him and nodded.

"No problem. That's what friends are for"

She took the card that was in Sora's hand and held it up.

"Now come on. Let's go see what else this castle has in store for us"

He nodded.

The group walked into the next room and braced themselves for what the castle had in store for them.

/

Axel twirled the crescent moon necklace around his finger while he watched Sora and Hikari.

He smirked fondly as he recalled the girl who gave it to him.

"She can be such a worry wart at times" he said to himself.

When he heard a portal opening, he quickly hid it back into his pocket.

Larxene stepped out of it and looked at Axel.

"Whew…throwing that battle really wore me out" she said.

Axel smirked darkly.

"Really? It looked to me like you just plain lost" he said.

"And it seems that fighting with Hikari didn't help her remember about Namine, it just did the opposite"

Larxene glared at him.

"How dare you!" she snapped.

"You don't appreciate the nuances of-"

"An ungainly effort" Someone added.

An elderly man with long graying hair appeared through a portal.

"Vexen!" Larxene said.

Vexen looked at Larxene with disgust.

"How could you be humbled by those of such limited significance?" he asked.

He walked up to Axel and Larxene.

"You shame the Organization" he said to Larxene.

Larxene just growled at him.

"How can we help you, Vexen?" Axel asked.

"It's not very often that we see you topside"

"I came to lend you a hand" Vexen said.

"You obviously believe that this Sora and Hikari have much potential, but I remain unconvinced they're truly worth such codling. I think an experiment would show if they're of any value to us"

Larxene just glared at him.

"Hmph. Well, here we go again" she said.

"It's just an excuse so you can carry out your little experiments. That's all"

Vexen smirked darkly at her.

"I'm a scientist" he said.

"Experiments are what I do"

Axel just shrugged.

"Whatever" he said.

"You can do what you want. But you know, I think testing Sora and Hikari is just a cover for testing your valet"

"Valet?" Vexen scoffed.

"He's the product of pure research. Besides, he may come in handy with Hikari"

Axel just raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?"

Vexen smiled darkly.

"Clearly you didn't do your homework" he said.

"Not only is she a princess of heart, but she's also a sorceress. Breaking her down is going to be a lot harder than it will be for Sora. Think of this experiment as giving the girl a little push in our direction"

"Your experiment is just a toy" Larxene said.

Vexen scoffed.

"Hmph. You should just learn to be quiet" he said.

"Anyway…" Axel said.

"Since you came all this way, you're gonna need this"

He handed Vexen a card.

"A humble gift to my elder. I hope you use it to put on a very good show for us"

Vexen just smirked at the card.

He looked over his shoulder to see his latest creation standing before him.

/

Sora ran ahead of the group.

Since he knew that Namine was here in the castle, he had to rescue her.

Hikari, Donald and Goofy tried to catch up with him.

They weren't the best runners in the group, so they had a hard time trying to catch up with him.

"Sora, not so fast!" Hikari whined.

She was always the slowest in their group.

Sora skidded to a stop and looked at his friends.

"We don't have time!" he cried.

"They've got Namine! We gotta rescue her!"

He continued to run through the castle.

Hikari groaned as they continued to run.

"Phew, Sora sure does seem like he's upset" Goofy said.

"You'd be too" Donald said.

"He just remembered a friend but found out she's in trouble!"

"Good point" Goofy said.

"I guess if we heard that the king was in danger, we would be pretty upset too"

He looked at Hikari.

"Did you finally remember, Namine?"

Hikari shook her head.

"No. That name doesn't ring a bell" she said.

"I don't remember her at all"

She bit her lip.

"But…even though I can't recall her…I still want to save her" she said.

"With people like Larxene and Axel lurking around here, I wouldn't want anyone trapped here"

They continue to run after Sora as they started their quest to save Namine.

/

**A/N: Guess who shows up next? Will it be a happy reunion for Hikari, or will it shatter her heart?**

**Review if you want to find out.**

**And if the Larxene fight didn't sound good, just wait until we see her again. I promise you, Hikari will skin her alive! It'll be fun!**

**Ja ne!**


	10. My darling, Why?

Chapter 9: My darling, Why?

**A/N: I'm sure everyone is either looking forward or dreading this chapter. Poor Hikari is going to suffer heartache yet again, and she didn't do anything to deserve it. Will she break down or will she stay strong? You'll just have to read to find out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I simply own Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Sora wouldn't let up as they ran through the castle. He was set on rescuing Namine.

Hikari was breathing heavily as they ran. Running up a set of stairs was no easy trick. Her chest was starting to cramp up.

"_Man, I wish I practiced running more on the islands" _she thought.

She looked at Donald and Goofy and saw that they weren't fairing well either. They were trying so hard to keep up with Sora, but they were failing horribly.

She looked at Sora and saw that he was running faster.

"Sora! Slow down!" she cried.

Sora skidded to a stop and looked at them.

"We can't slow down!" he cried.

"They've got Namine! We need to hurry!"

Hikari managed to catch up with him.

She leaned forward as she catches her breath.

"I know that" she wheezed.

"But let me remind you that not all of us are as fast as you are"

She gave him a tired glare.

I want to help this Namine girl too, but I don't want to die from a heart attack over it! I highly doubt that they'll do anything to her, so relax!"

Sora just looked at her.

He noticed that she looked really tired and was about to pass out any second.

He really didn't give the group a break after fighting Larxene. He was so set on rescuing Namine and making sure that she was alright, that he didn't even bother to check if his friend were alright.

He shamefully looked at them.

"I'm sorry guys" he said.

"I didn't mean to rush you like that. It's just that…I just want to save Namine. I feel guilty that I've suddenly remembered her and I want to be a good friend"

Hikari stood up properly when she regained her breath.

She smiled softly at him and patted his shoulder.

"Don't feel bad" she said.

"We want to help you rescue her too. But you can't rush us like that. We may be strong, but we're not as fast as you. Just take it easy. You're letting Larxene's words get the best of you"

Sora gave her a weak smile.

"Maybe you're right" he said.

He looked at Donald and Goofy to see them sitting on the ground. They looked like they were about to pass out from exhaustion.

Jiminy appeared on his shoulder.

"Why don't we take a five minute break?" he offered.

"I'm sure Namine isn't in any real danger"

Sora nodded.

"Ok, let's take a break"

Hikari sighed with relief and plopped down on the floor.

Her combat boots may have been good for fighting, but they were horrible to run in. She looked at her outfit as well in disgust. She never really did like it, but she dealt with it because it was easy to wear while she was fighting.

"_I seriously need to get a new wardrobe when we get out of this castle" _she thought.

"_If we get out that is"_

Since they were on break, she took this as an opportunity to think about this Namine chick.

She didn't understand why she could remember her.

Sora clearly knew her since he kept talking about her during their exploring. He even said that she knew her.

Even Larxene knew that they were best friends.

That's what puzzled her the most.

"_Why would she know all about that when I don't?" _

She found it rather odd that the enemy knew about her 'friend' when she knew nothing about her.

She thought that maybe this Namine wasn't real and Sora must've hit his head.

But that blurred image of that blond girl proved her otherwise.

"_Maybe it's taking a lot longer to regain my true memories like it is for Sora" _she thought.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was still trying to remember her past.

"_I'm sure I'll remember it eventually. But in the mean time, I'll help Sora rescue Namine. He's helping me find Riku, so I'll help him"_

As she thought about Riku, she couldn't help but miss him.

She was worried that she might forget about him as they progressed through the castle.

"_Well…we're gotten pretty far up in this castle and I still remember him" _she thought.

"_Maybe it's because my most precious memories are tied with Riku. If I keep thinking about them, then I won't forget about him"_

When their break was over, they continued through the castle.

While they were walking, Hikari touched the place where she kept her pendant.

"_I also remember that Riku is holding my most precious treasure"_

When she thought about her pendant, she suddenly had a hard time remembering who gave it to her.

"_Wait…who gave me my necklace?"_

/

Sora opened the doors to the next level.

As he looked around the area for Namine, he spotted someone he never thought he would see here.

Hikari looked at where he was staring and gasped.

Riku was walking towards them from the other side of the room.

Hikari never thought she would see him so quickly, but she was glad that she did. At least she knew that he was able to get out of the realm of darkness.

"Riku!"

She ran up to him and stopped when she was a foot away from him.

She was all grins as she looked at him.

He looked exactly the same as he did when she sealed Kingdom Hearts.

Sora was flabbergasted as he saw his best friend.

He ran up to him.

"What are YOU doing here?" he asked.

Riku wore an emotionless look on his face.

It reminded Hikari of when he was still under Maleficent's control

"Not happy to see me?" he asked.

Hikari's grin faltered.

Riku wasn't even looking at her, he was simply staring at Sora.

"Lemme know if I'm getting in the way- ya know, of something that's more important"

Sora looked confused. He didn't understand why he was acting this way.

"Huh? I didn't mean that…" he said.

Riku just scoffed.

"Hmph. Spare me the excuses" he said.

"I bet that you had all but forgotten about me"

Hikari panicked.

She didn't know why Riku was acting like this, but she didn't like it. What happened to the Riku that she saw at Kingdom Hearts? The one who told her that he loved her?

"Are you crazy?" she cried.

"I came all this way looking for YOU!"

Riku just scoffed at her without even looking at her.

"But you're not anymore, right?" he asked.

Hikari raised an eyebrow.

Riku looked back at Sora.

"Now it's only Namine that you're looking for"

Sora bit his lip.

"You don't care about me" Riku said.

"Just like you never cared…at all about her feelings"

Sora grew puzzled.

"Namine's…"

"Hmph. I knew it" Riku said.

"Never even gave it a thought, did you? Just cuz you want to see Namine-sorry- doesn't go both ways"

He jabbed a finger at Sora's direction.

"Tell you the truth, Namine doesn't even want to look at your face"

Sora panicked.

"Why not?" he asked.

Riku looked away.

"You should ask your memories…why Namine disappeared from the islands. Remember that, and you'd know"

Sora looked at the ground sadly.

"Did I…did I do something?" he asked.

"Is it my fault?"

Hikari looked at Sora sadly.

How could Riku say those things? Didn't he know how much rescuing Namine meant to Sora? Sure, she didn't remember her, but she still felt bad.

She looked at Riku.

She felt a shiver run down her spine as she looked into his aquamarine eyes.

They weren't filled with the light and happiness that she saw at Kingdom Hearts. They weren't filled with love and joy.

They were simply filled with anger and hatred.

These were the eyes she hoped that she would never see again.

"Riku…" she said in a shaky voice.

Darkness suddenly engulfed and changed his outfit to his dark mode suit.

He held up his soul eater and glared at Sora.

"Go home, Sora" he said.

"I'll care for Namine. Anyone who goes near her…goes through me!"

Hikari gasped.

He was acting a lot like when they were trying to rescue Kairi, the way he would be so obsessed with her that he didn't even care about how anyone else felt.

Tears pooled up in her eyes.

Was this Namine girl more important to him than she was?

He didn't even look or talk to her when they came into the room. It was as if she was invisible to him.

"Riku" she choked.

Sora blocked Riku's sword when he tried to attack him.

"What's-what's wrong with you?" he cried.

"We're supposed to be friends!"

"Please, Sora" Riku said.

"Since when have you ever cared about me? Namine's not the only one who's sick of looking at you. So am I!"

Hikari couldn't take this anymore.

This wasn't the Riku that she fell in love with.

She ran after them to help Sora with the fight.

"Riku, stop it!" she cried.

Sora held a hand up to stop her.

"Stay back, he's mine" he said.

"Go by Donald and Goofy"

Hikari was about to protest, but she knew that she would never win with him.

Goofy lead her away from the two and made sure they were at a safe distance from them.

Hikari couldn't help the tears that ran down her face as she looked at Riku.

She had gone on this journey to find him, only to find out that he was more concerned for this Namine girl.

It simply broke her heart.

"Riku"

She watched as Sora fought with Riku.

After years of sword fighting on the islands, it was obvious that they were evenly matched.

No one seemed to have the upper hand in the battle.

They were just battering each other back and forth.

Sora managed to get the upper hand and knock Riku's Soul Eater out of his hand.

He didn't say anything.

He just looked at Sora for a moment before running up the stairs to the next floor.

Hikari panicked.

"Riku! Please wait!" she cried.

She looked hurt when he didn't stop.

A tear ran down her eye.

"Why?"

She ran after him, not caring about the others.

"Hikari! Wait!" Sora cried.

They ran after her as she went up to the next level of the castle.

/

Hikari's mind was frantic as she ran up the stairs.

What in the world was wrong with Riku?

He was acting just like he did when he was consumed within the darkness.

She was scared that he was turning back into a mindless puppet.

Not only that, but he seemed to know about this Namine girl as well.

Why was everyone else remembering about this girl, but not her?

She bit her lip as she thought about how Riku acted when he talked about Namine. He acted as if he cared about her, like he _really _cared.

Didn't he remember when he kissed her at Kingdom Hearts and told her that he loved her?

She pushed her body farther and ran up the stairs.

"_Riku, you have some explaining to do!"_

/

She slammed the doors opened when she got to the next level.

She breathed heavily as she looked around the room for her crush.

"Riku! Where are you?"

She couldn't find anyone but herself in the room.

Feeling dejected, she hung her head sadly.

Sora and the others finally caught up to her.

Sora bit his lip sadly as he saw his friend.

He almost forgot how much Hikari cared about Riku.

Goofy slowly went up to her.

"Hikari, are you ok?" he asked.

Hikari just looked at the ground sadly.

"Don't worry about me" she said.

"Riku…what happened?"

Jiminy jumped on her shoulder.

"Hmm…sure was strange" he said.

"Almost like Ansem was back controlling Riku again"

Hikari looked at the little cricket.

She didn't want to remember when Riku was Ansem's puppet. It tore her up inside.

"_Those are one of the memories that I wish I forgotten" _she thought.

"But we got rid of Ansem for good" Sora said.

"Then I wonder what is wrong with Riku…" Goofy said.

Donald suddenly panicked.

"Hold on…the King!" he cried.

"If he's with Riku, he might be in danger!"

Hikari bit her lip.

Riku wasn't dangerous. He could have a temper, but he was a sweet person. They didn't know him like she did.

Jiminy looked at her.

"Hikari" he said.

He jumped off her shoulder and stood in front of her.

"I know…you're thinking Riku doesn't love you and that he isn't Sora's friend. But that's just not true"

Hikari looked at him sadly.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Well, I know he said some awful things back there…" Jiminy said.

"But you gotta remember- we are in Castle Oblivion. Why, folks lose their memory her a little bit at a time. Riku's probably forgotten that he was friends with Sora and that you were his sweetheart. That's all"

Hikari looked confused.

Could that be why he was acting so strange?

Did he lose parts of his memory?

"So he just forgot?" she asked.

Jiminy nodded.

"My guess is that's so" he said.

"But Hikari…instead of being sad, we have to figure out a way to help Riku get his memory back. If we all work together, why, we're sure to get you through this. No need to mope"

"Jiminy's right" Goofy said.

"You shouldn't push your friends away"

Hikari looked at them and gave them a sad smile.

"Yeah. Okay" she said.

"Hikari, do you remember our very first promise?" Donald asked.

Hikari looked at him.

"Huh?"

"Always smile!" Donald and Goofy said in unison.

"That was the promise we made to each other the first time we met!" Goofy said.

"We promised to never forget to keep smiling!"

Sora grinned.

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" he said.

Hikari grinned softly.

"You're right" she said.

They walked through the castle in search of Riku.

"_Don't worry, Riku. I'll make you remember everything about us" _she thought.

/

They caught up to Riku on the next floor.

He was still dressed in his dark mode outfit.

He stopped walking when he noticed they were behind him.

"Take the hint" he said without even looking at them.

"I told you to go home"

Hikari bit her lip.

She didn't like the way Riku was acting, but she reminded herself that his memories were probably messed up.

"Not until I rescue you and Namine" she said.

Riku looked over his shoulder slightly.

"I don't remember ever asking you to rescue me" he said.

Hikari just looked at him sadly.

"Did you forget?" She asked.

"Kairi's there- waiting for the three of us to come back home"

Sora nodded.

"That's right. She's waiting for us, remember?"

Riku scoffed and looked at him.

"You're the one who forgot" he said.

"I told you at Kingdom Hearts when we closed the door…'Take care of Kairi'"

Sora looked taken aback.

It seemed that he forgot that promise he made.

He hung his head in shame.

"Give it up" Riku said.

"I'm not going back to the islands-for anything"

Hikari stomped her foot.

She was really getting sick of Riku's attitude.

"It's not just for Kairi!" She cried.

"What about the rest?"

Riku just shrugged her off.

"You can have those losers" he said.

"Already forgot them"

Hikari glared at him.

"That's enough!" she said.

She pulled out her keyblade.

Riku just smirked darkly at her and pointed at her.

"What about you, Hikari?" he asked.

"Do you actually remember what they all look like?"

Hikari scoffed.

"Of course I rememb-"

As she said that, she realized that she didn't remember any of their faces. She couldn't recall her friends from the islands or what their names were.

Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember the person who gave her lucky charm to her.

Riku laughed darkly.

"Don't feel bad" he said.

"That's what this castle does to you-after a while"

He walked away from them a little and had his back towards them.

"It's good" he said.

"You forget all the useless stuff and remember for the first time what really matters. I remembered it, you two. I now know the one thing that is most important to me"

He looked at them.

"Protecting Namine. Nothing else matters-not a thing"

Sora looked at him horrified.

How could he say that in front of Hikari?

He was glad that he wanted to save Namine too, but Hikari was his girl.

He looked at her to see her reaction to all of this.

Her bangs were covering her eyes, so he could see anything.

Hikari didn't say a word as she let all of this sink in.

She suddenly gripped her keyblade really tightly to the point that her knuckles were turning to the same shade as her key.

"Hey…Riku…" she said softly.

She snapped her head at his direction and got into a fighting stance.

Her green eyes were dark as she glared at him.

"I think I'll jog your memory"

Riku smirked darkly as he drew out his soul eater.

"Go ahead and try" he said.

They both stared at each other as they prepared to fight.

Sora slowly back away from them.

Donald looked at him.

"Should we help her?" he asked.

Sora shook his head.

"No. This is her fight" he said.

"She needs to make Riku realize that everything he said was wrong"

Goofy gulped slightly as he looked at his friend.

"I hope she'll be alright" he said.

"Don't worry, she will be" Sora said.

"She's always fought with us back on the island. She can handle whatever Riku can dish out"

They all watched as the two lovers faced each other.

/

Hikari never took her eyes off of Riku when he pulled out his soul eater.

Even thought she was forgetting when she fought with him, she still remembered how he fought.

She noticed that he wasn't looking directly at her in the eye.

She found that to be a little odd.

Riku smirked darkly.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you, just because you're a girl" he said.

Hikari glared at him.

"I wouldn't want you to" she said.

"Now let's see what you've got"

They both looked at each other for a second before they flew at each other.

Hikari blocked his soul eater when he brought it down to slam into his head.

She swung his sword out of the way while she cast a thunder spell at him using her hand.

Riku dodged the attack and flipped out of the way.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked.

She growled.

"Please, I'm just getting warmed up" she said.

She charged at him and did a melee attack on him.

She managed to get a few hits on him, but it wasn't enough to knock him down.

As she was fighting him, she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't fighting like he normally did.

After years of fighting with him, she picked up that he fought a certain way and held a certain stance.

The stance was the same, but the skills he used were a bit sluggish and weak. It was like as if it wasn't him.

When he went to hit her in the side, she kicked his sword out of the way and punched him in the face.

As she did that, images ran though her head.

They weren't like the normal images she saw when she made any physical or eye contact.

These images looked a lot like drawings. They were all about Sora, Riku and that blond chick she saw before.

"_What in the world is this?"_

Riku jumped away and fell on one knee.

He held his face where she punched him.

He glared at her through his bangs and he used his soul eater to get him up.

Hikari held her keyblade up in case he wanted another round.

Riku just smirked darkly at her.

"Hmph. Too bad, Hikari" he said.

"You can fight me all you want, but I still won't remember a thing"

Hikari lowered her keyblade slightly.

She really didn't want to fight him.

Sure, she was mad that he thought about this Namine girl and not her, but she still loved him.

"Come on, Riku" she said.

"Let's quit fighting-let's go help Namine" she slowly walked to him.

Riku scoffed.

"Together-right?" he asked.

He lowered his soul eater.

"So like you…Hikari- you're always trying to worm your way into my heart!"

Hikari gasped a little.

"Hold on! When did I ever do that?" she asked.

She never thought she would hear that coming out of his mouth.

She never thought that she was trying to worm her way into his heart. Sure, she wanted him to see how much she loved him, but she kept her feelings to herself.

"Hmph. You forgot that too?" Riku asked.

"You never cared. It never mattered to you!"

He ran off to head to the upper level of the castle.

Hikari reached out for him, then slowly lowered her hand.

She thought she would be sad hearing that, but instead, she was mad.

How dare he think so poorly of her when she did nothing to him. He knew that she never tired to weasel her way into his heart.

She glared at where he ran off.

"You won't push me away" she said.

She looked at the others.

"Come on! Let's go!"

They all nodded and ran up to the next floor.

As they were running, Hikari made plans on how she was going to beat some sense into Riku's thick skull.

/

Namine sadly sat in a corner of the room she was in.

She knew what was going on between the three keyblade wielders and she knew there was nothing that she could do about it.

Axel appeared out of a portal and walked up to her.

The redhead looked at the blond.

He knew what was happening as well and how it was affecting the girl.

"Does it hurt, Namine?" he asked.

"Watching your three childhood friends fight all because of you?"

Namine didn't say anything. She didn't even look at him.

Axel smirked darkly.

"You have my sympathies. From the heart"

Namine glared up at him.

Axel chuckled a little.

"But don't waste your time" he said.

He looked off into the distance.

"We nobodies can never hope to be somebodies"

Namine looked at the ground sadly again.

/

Sora hung his head sadly as they walked.

He was feeling down about Riku.

Hikari on the other hand was furious.

He had a lot of nerve talking to her like that back there. She went on this journey because she was worried sick about him and when she found him, he was only concerned about Namine.

Did he forget about their kiss back at Kingdom Hearts? Did her feelings mean nothing to him?

Suddenly it was all 'Namine this' and 'Namine that'.

She knew she shouldn't feel jealous about this girl, but she couldn't help it.

What was so special about this girl that it made Sora and Riku gush over her?

They acted as if they knew her since they were kids, yet she couldn't.

She grabbed her head in frustration.

It had to be this stupid castle.

Instead of remembering her true memoires, she was forgetting them.

"_Stupid castle! I wish it was burnt to the ground!"_

Sora stopped walking and looked at the group.

"I don't get it" he said.

"Riku and I- we both want the same thing. Both of us want to help Namine out. How come we're fighting each other?"

He placed his hands behind his head.

"I mean, Riku and I have argued about stuff in the past, but…"

"Could be because you care what happens to each other" Goofy said.

Sora put his hands down.

"Hm…I thought so, too, but…maybe Riku doesn't…"

"Maybe he loves this Namine chick" Hikari spat.

Sora looked at her surprised.

He had never heard her talk this way before.

Hikari glared at the ground.

"You saw how he was acting back there" she said.

"It's obvious that he loves her. He said nothing else matters than protecting Namine"

A tear ran down her face.

"So all that stuff he said back at Kingdom Hearts was a lie. He was just toying with my emotions"

She sniffled a little.

"I even gave him the lucky charm that was made for me by…by…."

She couldn't think of the name that she was searching for.

It was all blank to her.

She just ground her teeth together as she wiped her eyes.

Sora went up to her.

"Don't feel like that" he said.

"I know Riku loves you and only you. He just sees Namine as a sister. Don't you remember?"

Hikari glared at him.

"No, Sora, I don't!" she snapped.

"I don't remember anyone named Namine, and I don't even remember who gave me my pendant. I've been losing my memories while you've been regaining yours. Can't you get that through your head?"

Sora stepped back so he wouldn't get his head chewed off.

He just looked at her while she had angry tears running down her face.

"And I'm not the only one whose forgetting. Riku may be remembering about Namine, but he's forgotten all about me. He doesn't remember that I turned into a heartless just to save him from Ansem and he doesn't remember me confessing my love for him. I'm nothing to him now"

Donald looked at her sadly.

He wasn't used to seeing her so broken like this.

"You can't give up" he said.

Sora nodded.

"That's right. It's like you always say 'I've come too far to quit now'. I know Riku loves you. He stayed on the other side of Kingdom Hearts just to keep you safe. He's only acting this way about Namine because he feels guilty that he forgot about her. I'm acting the same way too"

He placed his hands on her shoulders.

"We'll see him again. And when we do, we'll find out what's going through his head. He's really stubborn with expressing his feelings, so we'll just have to beat them out of him"

Hikari wiped her eyes.

Sora did have a point.

She shouldn't jump to conclusions just because of what Riku said. There had to be an explanation as to why he was acting this way.

She smile weakly at Sora.

"You're right" she said.

"Thanks, Sora. Sorry I snapped at you"

Sora hugged her.

"It's ok" he said.

"This castle is getting the best of us. We just need to remember that we're here for our friends"

Donald nodded

"You're friends-tied together" he said.

"Sora, Hikari, Riku and…and…"

He looked at Goofy.

"What was her name?"

Goofy shrugged.

Jiminy appeared on Sora's shoulder.

"Hm. It seems our memories are fading mighty fast" he said.

He looked at Sora and Hikari.

"We gotta hurry, you two. I bet Riku will come around if you just talk to him"

Sora nodded.

"You're right" he said.

"We four were never apart. Me, Riku, Hikari…and Namine"

/

**A/N: Poor Hikari, at least she took it like a trooper.**

**She'll just have knock some sense into that thick skull of his.**

**I'm sure you all know which Organization member we'll meet next.**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**

**Ja ne**


	11. Vexen

Chapter 10: Vexen

**A/N: It seems like things have gone from bad to worse for Hikari. Not only does she have to deal with Riku, but now she has to deal with half baked scientist. Being a keyblade master is no walk in the park, luckily she's a trooper and can handle anything that comes in her way, even if she's losing her memory.**

**We're almost half way done!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, I just own Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Donald and Goofy searched the area when they reached the next floor.

They didn't want to risk the chance of running into Riku or Axel and Larxene.

When they saw no one was around, they lowered their guard.

"Where'd Riku go?" Donald asked.

"Guess he must've finally got tired of fighting with ya" Goofy said to Sora and Hikari.

"I sure hope so" Hikari said.

She didn't want to think about what she would do if she saw him again.

With the way that he was acting, she was going to need some time to think of a plan.

/

Up in a different section of the castle, Axel and Larxene were looking at Vexen.

They had witnessed what happened with Sora and Hikari. It seemed that Riku didn't follow to their plan.

Larxene had a smug look on her face as she looked at the scientist.

"So what's going on, Vexen?" she asked.

"Your Riku was suppose to counter Sora and tarnish Hikari's memories. What's he waiting for? Where is he?"

Vexen bit his lip in frustration.

It seemed that his little experiment didn't go according to plan.

Axel had a know it all look. He knew that Vexen's experiment would fail.

"He's hiding somewhere to lure Sora and Hikari deeper into the castle, right?" he asked.

"I suppose we should just leave it at that, you know"

Larxene wore a dark grin as she realized the experiment was a failure.

"A-ha! Oh, I see now" she said.

"I would have never guessed that. So sorry, Vexen"

"Silence!" Vexen snapped.

Larxene just gave him a sneer.

"Predictable response" she said.

"Forget it. Men without hearts are so boring"

Vexen glared at her.

"You're one to talk" he said.

"As if you have such a heart to speak of yourself"

"That's enough"

Everyone turned around to see the cloaked man enter through a portal.

"Marluxia" Vexen said.

Marluxia pulled his hood back to reveal a slightly feminine face with pink hair.

He walked over to his colleges.

"Vexen, the simple fact is that your project was a failure" he said.

"You'd best not disappoint us again"

Vexen sneered at his younger college.

"Disappoint YOU? You go too far!" he said.

"In this Organization, You're No.11! I'm No.4 and I will not have you-"

He was silenced when Marluxia pulled out his scythe and pointed it at him.

"I've been entrusted this castle and Namine by our leader" he said.

"Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization"

"'Traitors are eliminated'. I believe that's what the rules say" Axel said.

"Who needs a half-baked-good-for-nothing, anyway?" Larxene added.

Vexen growled at her.

"Vexen, you cannot win against Sora and Hikari" Marluxia said.

Vexen looked at him for a moment before grinning coldly.

"Pity to be so ignorant" he said.

"As you're only able to see the surface of things. I should not expect you to appreciate my true might"

"Oh?" Marluxia asked.

He dismissed his weapon in a shower of flower petals.

"Then let us watch as you prove it" he said.

Vexen was taken aback.

"What?" he asked.

Marluxia smiled darkly.

"None of us wish to be suspicious of a comrade" he said.

Vexen scoffed.

"Your sincerity is comforting" he said sarcastically.

He disappeared within a portal.

Axel looked at Marluxia.

"You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll seriously want to eliminate Sora and Hikari" he said.

Marluxia just smirked.

"That would be an unfortunate denouement"

He walked over to where Namine was sitting and placed and hand on her shoulder.

The girl flinched at the touch.

Marluxia just smirked at her.

"What to do?" he asked.

"Your heroes are soon to be wiped from existence. But I believe there's a certain promise that he made you"

Namine gasped a little.

Marluxia grinned.

"Isn't that right, Namine?"

Namine bit her lip as she looked at the ground.

"…Yes" she said quietly.

Marluxia walked away and left her alone in her misery.

/

Our heroes had made it to the tenth floor of the castle.

Hikari never realized there were this many floors to this castle. It looked so small on the outside.

"_Then again, never judge a book by its cover" _she thought.

Donald looked around the area.

"Wow! The tenth floor…" he said.

"We've gotten up pretty high"

"And that must mean we've lost at least ten whole floors ' worth of our memories" Jiminy said.

Hikari groaned.

She didn't realized she lost that much of her memories.

Jiminy looked at Sora.

"Sora, it's not too late" he said.

"Don't you think we should turn back?"

Sora shook his head.

"I can't do that" he said.

"Because…that would break an old promise that I made"

"An old promise?" Jiminy asked.

"What would that be?"

Sora looked at the ground.

"On the islands, I promised Namine-that I'd keep her safe, no matter what" he said.

"But I forgot it….I didn't remember until I started forgetting everything else! A promise between the two of us…That's why I can't leave. Now that I remember the promise, I have to keep it"

Jiminy smiled sadly at him.

"Of course" he said.

"We understand, Sora"

He looked at Hikari.

"What about you, Hikari? Do you want to turn back?"

She shook her head.

"I came to this castle to search for Riku" she said.

"And since he's here, with half of his memories gone, I can't leave him alone. I made a vow that I would be his knight and save him from the darkness. I don't care if I lose my memories in the process, I won't leave without him"

Jiminy smiled at her slightly.

"Alright then" he said.

"We better not keep him waiting, then"

She nodded.

"Right, let's go"

They walked up to the next level of the castle.

/

As they walked up to the eleventh floor, a portal opened up in front of them.

Vexen stood before them with a smug look on his face.

Everyone quickly summoned their weapons.

"Who are you?" Sora asked.

Vexen just smirked darkly at them.

"I am Vexen" he said.

"I've come to collect your debt, Sora and Hikari"

"A debt?" Goofy asked.

He looked at his two keyblade friends.

"Do you guys owe something to this guy?"

Hikari sweat dropped.

Goofy could be a real sweetheart, but he could be clueless as well.

"Come on, of course not" she said.

"Oh, but you do" Vexen said.

"You owe me for reuniting you both with your former friend"

Sora and Hikari paled.

"You don't mean-" Sora said.

Vexen nodded.

"Indeed, I do" he said.

"I'm the one who brought Riku to you"

Hikari couldn't believe this.

This creep was the one who brought her beloved back.

"Then…you're the one…"

She pointed her keyblade at him.

"You're the one who's been controlling him! What have you done with him?"

Now it all made sense.

Riku was acting differently because of this guy. He acted like this when he was being controlled by Ansem, and now he was being Vexen's puppet.

"_How dare he use my precious Riku as a puppet!" _she screamed in her head.

Sora was pretty much the same.

He was furious that someone would toy around with his best friend.

Vexen was going to pay.

The scientist just scoffed at them.

"I see no need to give you information about where Riku is. After all-"

Ice surrounded him as he called forth a giant shield that covered his entire left arm.

"Why trouble you in your final hours?"

Hikari immediately sent a barrage of fire spells at him,

Since he used ice, then that mean fire was his weakness.

She simply felt her blood boil as she fought with Vexen.

She just couldn't stand it that people were using Riku like some toy.

He had been through enough, so why couldn't they leave him alone?

She was going to make them pay.

She jumped out of the way when Vexen had ice coming up from the ground.

He was trying to make it so that they couldn't get close to him to attack.

It appeared that he was a lot smarter than Axel and Larxene. He planned his attacks instead of going into the fight.

But even though he knew how to evade Sora and Goofy's attacks, he didn't about her or Donald.

If they couldn't attack him psychically, then they were just going to have to do it with magic.

Hikari looked at the magician next to her.

"Let's show him what happens when you underestimate the mages of the group" she said.

Donald nodded and aimed his staff at Vexen.

They both cast their most powerful fire spells and hit him square in the chest.

Vexen let out a grunt as he jumped back.

He smirked at them darkly as they prepared for another attack.

"As I expected, you weren't ones to die very easily" he said.

He dismissed his weapon.

Sora glared at him and jabbed his keyblade in his direction.

"As if we'd ever lose to you!" he cried.

"I wouldn't be so sure" Vexen said.

"Did you even notice? I was deviling deep into your memories as we fought"

Hikari growled.

Another person went through her memories?

Vexen smirked.

"And here….look at what I found"

He held up a card.

"A card crafted from all of the memories that are locked in the other side of your hearts"

He threw it at them before disappearing within a portal.

Sora caught it while Hikari ran towards Vexen.

"Wait!"

She wasn't going to let him get away after what he did to Riku.

When he disappeared, she stomped her foot in frustration.

Sora looked at her sadly before looking at the card in his hand.

"Memories…in the other side?"

/

Axel, Larxene and Marluxia had watched Vexen's fight.

They couldn't believe he would give them _that _card.

He had a lot of nerves to do that.

They all knew what would happen if Sora and Hikari used that card.

Axel looked at Marluxia.

"If Sora and Hikari disappear, that would mess up the Organization's plans" he said.

Marluxia looked grim as he looked at the monitor.

Leave it to Vexen to ruin his plans. He needed to be dealt with.

"I trust that you know what you need to do" he said.

Axel wore a know it all smirk.

He turned his to him.

"Haven't a clue, really" he said.

"Maybe you could spell it out for me"

Marluxia just looked at Sora and Hikari.

"Vexen has clearly committed a treasonous act against the organization" he said.

"You must eliminate the traitor"

Axel smirked darkly.

"No taking that back later" he said.

He disappeared within a portal and left them alone.

He was going to enjoy this.

/

**A/N: Only two 'worlds' left! We're getting close to the end of this story! **

**Vexen is so mean! He messed up Riku to the point that it nearly broke Hikari's heart. You all know that she's not going to let him get away that easily.**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	12. Twilight Town

Chapter 11: Twilight Town

**A/N: Yay! We're at one of my favorite worlds in this game! Now is when things get really confusing for Hikari and the others. I wonder how they'll deal with this new world that they supposedly have been to. We'll just have to read to find out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

They group went up to the next level of the castle. There was no other way for them to go but up.

Sora looked at the card that Vexen had given them.

He found it rather odd that this was made from the 'other side' of his heart.

Jiminy studied the card carefully.

"A card made out of the memories from the 'other side of your heart'?" he asked.

"Hmm. I wonder what it does"

Sora looked at the door that stood in front of them.

"We'll find out soon enough" he said.

"It's the only one we have left. No other way to move forward"

Hikari looked at the card skeptically.

She really didn't trust that Vexen.

He had changed Riku to the point where he had forgotten how important she was to him, so why should they use a card that he gave them.

"It could be a trap" she said.

"He could be giving it to us so he can lure us within this clutches and mess up our memories to where we're just like Riku"

Sora looked at it.

"You may be right" he said.

"But how else are we going to move forward? Namine is somewhere within this castle, and there's no other way to go but up. We have to go"

Hikari sighed.

She was starting to get annoyed with him talking about Namine. That's the only thing he talked about lately.

But, she didn't have room to argue. She had to find Riku and beat him to his senses and beat the crap out of Vexen for making him this way.

They walked up to the door and held the card up.

The doors opened for them and they went through their 'other' memory.

/

They ended up in some sort of town.

It looked very different from Traverse Town with the buildings being more opened.

The sunset gave the area a bright glow.

Hikari thought it was beautiful. She never knew such a place existed.

For this being a part of her memories, she didn't remember this place.

Everyone looked around the area.

"Gawrsh, where are we?" Goofy asked.

They watched a ferry pass them by.

"I dunno…I've never been here" Sora said.

He looked at Hikari.

"How about you?"

She shook her head.

"This is the first time for me. I would remember a beautiful place such as this"

Jiminy jumped off of Sora's shoulder.

"That can't be right" he said.

"Up until now, the only places we've been are from Sora and Hikari's memories."

The keybalde masters nodded.

"Maybe so, but we definitely don't remember this" Sora said.

"You might have forgotten this town just like the other stuff" Donald said.

"This is terrible" Jiminy said.

"Our memories are practically gone"

Hikari, Donald and Goofy slumped their heads in defeat.

"We'll be ok" Sora said.

"See, look at this…"

He pulled out Namine's lucky charm.

"Namine's good luck charm?" Hikari asked.

Sora nodded.

"There's a special memory that goes with this" he said.

"One night when Namine and I were little, there was this meteor shower. Namine started crying. She said, 'what if a shooting star hits the islands?'. So I said, ' if a shooting star comes this way, I'll hit it right back into outer space!'. I was swinging this toy sword around the whole time. Namine just smiled and said 'thanks'. And then she gave me this. Namine said she had it ever since she was a baby"

"And she gave it to you?" Donald asked.

"Aww"

Sora nodded.

"Yeah. So I promised her…from now on, I'll bring you good luck. I'll keep you safe"

Hikari giggled a little.

"That kind of reminds me of my lucky charm" she said.

Sora grinned.

"Oh yeah! Your heart pendant. I remember you would always wear it and never let anyone touch it"

Hikari nodded.

"It was the only thing I had when I came to the islands" she said.

"I had no recollection of who I was or where I came from. It was the only thing that I had from my world. It's kept me safe from our previous journey"

Sora nodded.

"And you gave it to Riku when we closed Kingdom Hearts" he said.

"Right" Hikari said.

"Even though it was my greatest treasure and I didn't want to part with it, I was more concerned about Riku. I wanted to keep him safe from the darkness, so I gave him a portion of my light"

"That's really romantic of you" Goofy said.

Hikari blushed.

"It was really hard parting with my charm" she said quietly.

"Someone very dear to me made it. She made it for me so that I would always be surrounded by light and so the darkness wouldn't touch me"

"Who made it for you?" Sora asked.

Hikari thought about it.

"It was my…my…"

She couldn't think of anyone. She tried to picture the person, but it just came out all fuzzy.

She looked at her friends sheepishly.

"Sorry, I don't know at the top of my head" she said.

Sora gave her a small grin.

"It's alright" he said.

"Let's look around here. Maybe we'll find Namine or Riku"

Hikari nodded.

As she was walking, she failed to notice a certain blond girl standing behind her.

"I'm so sorry, Hikari" said quietly.

"All of this is happening because of me"

/

They walked through the town for a bit.

Nobody was really out at this time.

Hikari figured it was because it was getting late and everyone wanted to turn in for the day.

Her mind wandered back to the person who gave made her pendant. She knew that she was connected to that person, but she couldn't think of a name or face. It was like as if a veil was covering her face and she couldn't see anything.

She felt horrible that she couldn't remember. She knew that this person had to be really important.

She even remembered that this person was sealed away within her pendant and was staying with Riku.

That's when something occurred to her. If she saw Riku, why didn't she see that person?

Surely he still had her charm. Even if he was forgetting a few things, he should know who important her pendant.

That made her want to find him even more.

There were so many things that were leaving her confused.

This castle was really getting to the best of her.

She continued walking with her friends as she tried to sort of what memories she still had left.

/

They kept walking until they reached an abandoned mansion out in the woods.

Hikari looked at it and could have sworn that she saw this once before.

"_That's not possible" _she thought.

"_I've never been here before, so why would I remember this place?"_

Sora had the same look on his face as well.

"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.

"Something…feels really strange" Sora said.

Hikari nodded.

"I'm sure I don't know this place, but it's starting to feel like it's familiar to me…" she said.

"You must have come here sometime before" Donald said.

Sora and Hikari shook their heads.

"No, and that's what's strange…" Sora said.

"It could be like with Namine" Goofy said.

"You forgot lots of other stuff-and that's why you remember this place now"

Hikari didn't think so.

It just didn't seem right.

She remembered that someone once told her that there were two different types of memoires, the memory of the mind and the memory of the body.

Even of the mind forgot something, the body would always remember.

Her mind was telling her that she had once come here before, but her body was telling her the opposite.

Since she couldn't really remember anything, she stuck with what her body was telling her.

"No…it's different" she said.

Sora nodded.

"With Namine-my memories…sort of came drifting back to me, a little piece at a time" he said.

"But not now. It's not memories-just this idea that I must have been here before"

"So, feeling nostalgic?"

Everyone whipped around to see Vexen standing in front of the mansion gates.

Hikari growled at him.

She was going to get her revenge for Riku.

Vexen smirk coldly at them.

"I have a question for you, Sora" he said.

"Your memories of Namine or your feelings here- which of the two of these is more real, I wonder"

Sora glared at him.

"Namine, of course!" he said.

"Whatever it is we're feeling , I bet it's just another one of your mean little tricks!" Hikari added.

Vexen laughed cruelly.

"The memory's wiles can be cruel" he said.

"In its silence, we forget. In its obsession, it binds our hearts"

"Cut the riddles!" Hikari snapped.

Vexen sneered at her.

"I told you- this place was created solely from another side of your memories. It is on the other side of your hearts that the memories of this place exists. It is your hearts that remember"

Sora stomped his foot in frustration.

"You're wrong!" he cried.

"We don't know this place!"

Vexen sneered at them.

"If you remain bound by the chain of memories and refuse to believe what is truly found inside your hearts…then throw it away. You are not the keyblade maters- just slaves to twisted memories"

He grinned darkly as he summoned his shield.

"Yes...just like my Riku. Your existences are worth nothing!"

Hikari's heart stopped a moment.

_His _Riku? What did he mean by that? Riku didn't belong to anybody.

"Like YOUR Riku?" she asked.

"Worth nothing?"

She growled at him and drew her keyblade.

"That's enough!" she cried.

"YOU'RE the one who changed Riku! Every word you've said is a lie! How dare you use him as your little puppet?"

Vexen laughed at her.

"So it is true that love blinds us from reality" he said.

"But no matter. I just put you out of your misery"

Sora and the others summoned their weapons.

"As if we'd ever let you defeat us!" he cried.

"We're going to defeat you then save Riku and Namine!"

Vexen grinned darkly at them.

"Go ahead and try"

Hikari threw herself at him.

After hearing him call Riku worthless, she simply couldn't let him live.

As long as he was alive, Riku would never be freed.

She blindly sent fire spells at him while Donald and Goofy attacked him.

She was going to make him suffer slowly for what he did to her beloved.

She didn't know why she was acting or feeling this way, but it didn't matter to her. She just wanted revenge.

When she noticed him getting weak, she cast her strongest fire spell at him while Sora landed the finishing blow.

Vexen yelled in pain and fell to his knees.

He breathed hard as he tried to regain his breath.

He never knew these children could wield such power even with parts of their memory missing.

"You have such strength, even at the mercy of your memories" he rasped.

Hikari glared at him.

"None of that matters!" she snapped.

"Just put Riku back!"

Vexen laughed.

"Just put him back?" he asked.

He slowly got to his feet.

"The Riku you speak of…has but one fate, to sink into the darkness-and you two share the same fate!"

He held his side.

"If you both continue to seek the girl, Namine, the shackles will tighten, you'll lose your hearts…and end up become Marluxia's pawns!"

Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Marluxia?" he asked.

"What does Namine have to do with-"

He was cut off when a flaming Chakram zipped past him and hit Vexen square in the chest.

The scientist went down for the count.

Hikari whipped her head around. She knew who owned that weapon.

She saw Axel standing a few feet from them.

"Axel!"

The red head gave them a cocky smile.

"Yo, Sora and Hikari" he said.

"Did I catch you both at a bad time?"

Vexen painfully stood up and held his side.

He glared at Axel.

"Axel, why…?" he rasped.

Axel smirked darkly.

"I came to stop you from talking too much" he said.

"By eliminating your existence"

Vexen's eyes went wide with panic.

"No…don't do it!" he pleaded.

Axel didn't seem fazed.

"We are just nobodies who have no one to be, yet we still 'are'" he said.

"But now you can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody. You're off the hook"

Vexen back away.

"No…please don't!" he cried.

"I don't want to-"

"Goodbye"

Axel snapped his fingers and set Vexen into flames.

Everyone watched horrified as he disappeared into black particles.

Sora looked at Axel in horror.

"What are you- what ARE you people?"

Axel wore a sad grin.

"Don't know" he said.

"I wonder about that myself"

He disappeared through a portal and left them.

Hikari couldn't believe what she saw.

True, she wanted Vexen gone, but not like that. No one deserved to die like that, no matter how cruel they were.

She looked at Sora.

"L-let's just go" she said in a shaky voice.

"There's nothing left for us here, so why bother staying?"

Sora nodded.

They slowly left the mansion.

Hikari looked at the spot where Vexen once stood.

"_Now that he's gone, Riku will be free" _she thought.

She slowly followed after Sora and the others.

"_Riku" _she thought as she walked.

"_When I see you…please let you be back to your old self again"_

/

**A/N: Woo Hoo! Vexen's dead! But it's not over yet. Now Hikari has to deal with Riku. Will he be back to the way that he was? Or will it be too late?**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**

**Ja ne**


	13. How can there be two?

Chapter 12: How can there be two?

**A/N: We're almost at the end! I'm sure you all can't wait to find out what happens next!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Axel returned back to Marluxia and Larxene after he finished Vexen.

The two of them seemed pleased that he was able to pull it off.

"Nice work" Larxene said.

"I say good riddance to that blabbermouth"

Axel looked at Marluxia.

"Marluxia…you used Vexen to test Sora and Hikari's strength, didn't you?"

Larxene smirked darkly.

"Not just theirs" she said.

"It was yours, too. We weren't sure if you actually had it in your bones to take out a fellow member"

She walked over to him and leaned on him slightly.

"Well, it looks that you did. It's time to join up" she said.

"Taking over the organization will be child's play with the three of us"

Axel shrugged her away with disgust.

"So that's where Sora and Hikari come in" he said.

"Of course" Larxene said.

"They want to see Namine-well, Sora mostly, so why don't we just give them what they want?"

Marluxia looked at Namine, who was sadly sitting in the corner.

"Rejoice, Namine" he said.

"The time is near for you to meet the heroes that you've been longing to see"

Namine looked at her sketchbook sadly.

"I'm…glad" she said quietly.

Larxene went up to her and got in her face.

"But I'm warning you" she said.

"You'd better not do anything to betray their feelings. Do you understand me, little one?"

Namine nodded.

"I understand" she said.

Marluxia looked at his little tool.

"All you need do is layer their memories, and bring their hearts closer to you" he said.

With that, he and Larxene left her in Axel's care.

The red head simply looked bored and pull out the moon necklace that he held in his pocket.

"Tsukiko_" _he said to himself.

"Sora…Hikari…"Namine said quietly.

Axel looked at her.

Namine just clenched her sketchbook tightly as she looked at the pictures she drew of Sora and Hikari.

"Even if you come for me-what then?"

She hung her head sadly, realizing what she had done to them.

/

Riku was waiting for them when they came through the door.

Hikari was relived and worried at the same time.

Since Vexen was destroyed, then that meant he would return to his old self.

She just hoped that it wasn't too late.

"Riku" she said.

She and Sora went up to him.

She could see that he still had on that grim expression.

"You'll hurt Namine if you go further" he said to them.

Hikari looked hurt.

He was still concerned about this Namine?

"You still want to fight?" she asked.

"But Vexen's gone, so now you're free!" Sora said.

Riku glared at them.

"It doesn't matter what happens to him" he said.

"I'm protecting Namine from you both. That's what's in my heart"

Hikari's heart sank.

He was more concerned about Namine than about her.

"_Then all those things he said to me at Kingdom Hearts…were they just lies?"_

Riku didn't seem to pay any attention to her. He simply looked at Sora.

"Sora, I made a promise to Namine" he said.

"I promised to…keep her safe"

Hikari bit her lip.

She remembered him making a promise to keep her safe. He said he would be her knight in shining armor.

Sora looked confused.

"You did?" he asked.

Riku nodded.

"There was a meteor shower….this one night when she and I were little" he said.

Sora and Hikari grew confused. They had heard this story before, but it dealt with Sora.

"Namine got scared and said, 'what if a shooting star hits the islands?'. So I told her: 'If a shooting star comes this way, I'll protect you!'"

"You made a promise! With a toy sword!" Sora cried.

Riku looked surprised.

"What…how do you know about that?" he asked.

Sora bit his lip.

"Because…that was the promise I made to her that night!" he said.

"I would protect her! I said it!"

Riku glared at him.

"Don't lie!" he said.

"You weren't the one there that night!"

Sora glared back at him.

"YOU'RE the one who wasn't there!" he said.

"That was when she gave her good luck charm to ME!"

"Her what?" Riku asked.

Sora pulled out Namine's good luck charm.

"See?" he asked.

Riku looked shocked.

"Tell me…where did you get that?" he asked.

He suddenly realized something and smirked darkly.

"Sora…good try" he said.

"That must be a fake. I've got the real one right here!"

He pulled out a charm that looked exactly like the one Sora was holding.

Sora was shocked.

"Wha-TWO of them?" he asked.

Hikari grew confused.

What happened to her good luck charm? She gave it to him, so shouldn't he have it?

She looked at him.

"Riku…where's my lucky charm?" she asked.

Riku looked at her.

"What?"

Hikari bit her lip.

"My lucky charm" she repeated.

"I gave it to you when we closed Kingdom Hearts. I gave it to you as a promise to return it to me on the islands. So where is it?"

Riku looked confused.

"You're…charm?"

He suddenly grabbed his head in pain.

When the pain died down, he glared at them.

"Riku?" Hikari asked.

She looked him square in the eye and had his memories flow through her.

They were the same as when she saw them before.

They were all drawings that depicted that night Riku was talking about.

She was confused as to why his memories were drawings, but she really didn't have time to ponder on that thought.

Riku drew out his soul eater and pointed it at them.

"Fakes should be destroyed!" he cried.

Sora and Hikari drew out their weapons. It seemed that words alone weren't going to knock Riku to his senses, so they just had to beat it into him.

Hikari sadly looked at the one she loved most.

She was hurt that he didn't remember their promise at Kingdom Hearts, but she blamed it on the castle.

All of their memories were messed from the moment they stepped foot here.

It made her wish that she never came here.

They attacked Riku with much regret.

They didn't want to fight their friend, but they just didn't know how to communicate with him.

The fight really didn't last long.

It seemed like Riku wasn't as strong as he once was, or it could have been because he was distracted by the idea that Namine made the same promise to Sora.

He staggered back a bit and held his side.

"Why?" he muttered.

Hikari slowly went up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Riku" she said.

Riku looked at her for a moment before running off.

As he did, he dropped his good luck charm.

Everyone slowly walked over to it.

"Isn't that Namine's good luck charm?" Donald asked.

Sora picked it up.

"It's just like mine" Sora said.

He picked it up.

"How'd he get this?"

It suddenly glowed brightly before turning into a card.

"It turned into a card" Goofy said.

Sora looked at it.

"Then let's use it" he said.

"It might lead us to Namine"

He started walking, but the others didn't follow.

"Awww…I don't understand what's going on…" Donald said.

Sora looked at them.

"Let's just keep moving, okay?" he said.

"It doesn't matter"

Hikari looked at him.

How could he act so normal after everything that had just happened?

Wasn't he concerned about why there were two of Namine's good luck charms? Or why he and Riku had the same memory.

"It DOES matter" she said.

"How can two of you have the same memory? You can't both be right"

Sora glared at them.

"I'm wrong?" he asked.

"Fine, don't believe me!"

Everyone was taken aback. They had never seen Sora snap like this before.

"That's not what we meant" Goofy said.

"We're just kinda worried"

"Then let's ask Namine" Sora said.

"That should clear it up"

He sighed.

"Look, we don't have time to sit around. So let's GO"

Hikari was taken aback.

She really didn't like seeing her friend acting this way. It almost reminded her of how Riku reacted when he was with Maleficent.

"Sora, what happened to you?" she asked.

Sora glared at her.

"What's THAT mean?" he snapped.

Hikari took a step back in fear.

Donald and Goofy stood in front of her protectively.

"Well, ya always get real touchy when it comes to stuff about Namine" Goofy said.

"But before we came to this castle, you didn't even remember what her name was"

"Now Namine is the only thing you talk about" Donald said.

"It doesn't make any sense" Goofy said.

"Maybe you should slow down and think ahead about some of these things"

"Think ahead?" Sora snapped.

"What is the matter with you guys? Do you want me to abandon her?"

Donald shook his head.

"No, that's not it-"

"Then do whatever you want!" Sora said.

"You can lay back and take a nap for all I care! I'M going to find Namine!"

He ran up the stairs that lead to the next floor.

"Sora!" everyone cried.

Hikari was angry now.

Sora had no right snap at them like that.

She was going to give him a piece of her mind.

She looked at Donald and Goofy.

"You two stay here" she said.

"I'm going to get Sora and knock some sense into his thick skull"

They both looked at her sadly.

"Are you going to help him rescue Namine?" Goofy asked.

That took her off guard.

"Why bring that up?" she asked.

"Well, you don't remember her like Sora does, so we didn't know if you were determined to find her like Sora is"

Hikari thought about it for a moment.

True, she couldn't remember Namine, but that didn't mean she was going to leave her alone in this place.

"Even if I don't remember her" she said.

"She's still in trouble. If you knew that there was someone being held prisoner by a group of bad guys, you'd want to help that person, right?"

They both nodded.

"Well, that's what it's like for me. I may not remember her, but I won't abandon her. And I won't abandon my friends. I know Sora said some cruel things just now, but he's in a mess. If I leave him alone as he is, he's going to get hurt"

"Then go after him then" Donald said.

Hikari nodded.

"I'll make sure he apologizes to you both"

She ran up the stairs and went after Sora.

"Be safe, Hikari" Goofy said.

/

Axel walked over to Namine.

They had just saw what had happened between Sora and the others.

Namine sadly looked at her sketchbook. She felt horrible about what Sora did to his friends.

"You're all that he's got left" Axel said.

"So then, if you don't stop this, no one will"

Namine bit her lip.

"But I…" she said.

"It's too late"

"You shouldn't give up just yet" Axel said.

He walked away from her slightly.

He smirked as he looked over his shoulder.

It was time to lay out his plan.

"Say Namine" he said.

"Have you noticed? Marluxia doesn't seem to be around"

Namine looked at him.

"What are you…saying?" she asked.

Axel just smirked as he looked away.

"Just that there's no one here who would want to get in your way"

Namine realized what he was saying and stood up.

She ran for the door and opened them.

"Just make it count" Axel said.

He watched as she left the room.

"Now THIS should be interesting" he said.

"Try and make it enjoyable , you two. It's the least you can do for me, you know"

He started to laugh a little.

That caught him by surprise.

"Hey, wait. I'm enjoying this"

He smiled as he looked up at the ceiling.

"You guys ARE something else!"

/

**A/N: So Sora abandoned his friends just so he could save Namine. He's not going to like it when Hikari catches up to him. She's seriously going to chew him out.**

**Will Namine make it in time to stop them? Or will it be too late?**

**And who is this Tsukiko that Axel thought about?**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**

**Ja ne!**


	14. Destiny Islands

Chapter 13: Destiny Islands

**A/N: Now is where the truth comes out. How will Sora deal with the fact that Namine isn't what she seems to be. Plus, will Hikari managed to smack some sense into Sora?**

**You'll just have to read to find out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Hikari managed to get to him in time. It seemed like he had just made it to the next floor because he was breathing heavily from running.

She quickly ran up to him.

"Sora!"

He turned around, surprised to see her.

"Hikari? What are you doing here?"

Hikari stopped to catch her breath.

"What does it look like?" she asked.

"I came here to stop you"

Sora glared at her.

"I doesn't matter what you say. I'm still saving Namine!"

He turned around and held the card up.

Jiminy appeared on Hikari's shoulder.

It really bothered him that Sora talked to everyone that way before.

"Sora, that was no way to-"

"Keep it to yourself!" Sora snapped.

Jiminy looked hurt.

He hung his head sadly.

Hikari glared at Sora.

"Jiminy, hold on" she said.

She walked right up to Sora and punched him square in the face.

Sora skidded across the floor and held his face.

He looked surprised at Hikari.

"What did you do that for?" He cried.

Hikari kept glaring at him.

"You know why!" she snapped.

"You have a lot of nerve talking to us like that! After everything we've done for you, after sticking with you until now, you think you have the right to talk badly to us?"

She shook her fists in anger.

"Listen, we don't know about Namine, you're the only one in our group whose magically remembered her. I don't remember any girl by that name that lived on the islands and I've been there since I was 5! Sure, I'm losing my memories, but I would never ever forget about my best friends! We've agreed that we would help you rescue Namine, but there was no need to blow up on us like that. I agree with Donald and Goofy when they say that it's strange that you've suddenly remembered Namine when we steeped foot into this castle. I know you're clueless at times, but not that clueless! You're acting like a love sick boy trying to save his crush! You're more concerned about her than you are about your friends!"

She had angry tears pool her eyes.

"I don't know what's happened to you, but you need to fix that attitude of yours or else I'll do it for you. You're acting just like Riku!"

She wiped her tears away.

"I know I said I would help you rescue Namine, but I won't when you're acting like this. Now, you either calm down, or else you're on your own with this. I refuse to help you when you're acting like a nut job"

Sora looked hurt for a moment.

He didn't mean to hurt Hikari that way.

He was just more concerned about finding Namine that he didn't even bother to see how she was doing with all of this.

He didn't even ask her how she was with the whole Riku thing. She had kept her emotions bottled up this whole time to the point that she was about to burst.

He had to be the worst friend ever.

He slowly got up.

"I'm so sorry, Hikari" he said.

"I didn't mean be to be such a jerk. I was so worried about Namine that I didn't even bother to be concerned about you and the others. I didn't even ask you how you were dealing with Riku. Forgive me"

Hikari sighed.

She was glad that he calmed down, but she wasn't going to forgive him that easily.

"It's fine, just don't do it again" she said.

"I've suffered enough drama from this castle to last me a life time"

Sora grinned slightly.

"Yeah, I guess"

Hikari just brushed the hair out of her face.

"So what now?" she asked.

"You want to rescue Namine, right?"

Sora nodded.

"I just need to use this card, and I'll be one step close to her"

Hikari nodded.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

They both walked up to the door.

Sora used the card to open the door before they went through.

/

They were both stunned to see the world that they arrived to.

Hikari never thought in a million years that she would see her islands again.

It looked the same as she remembered.

"I'm not going crazy, am I?" she asked.

She slowly walked towards the water.

The smell of the salty air filled her nostrils.

"I know exactly where this is…" she said.

She looked at Sora and smiled brightly.

He wore the same expression on his face as well.

"Yeah! This is our island!" he cried.

"Namine and I used to play together here!"

Hikari smiled sadly at him.

"_Still talking about Namine, huh?"_

"Heeey!"

They turned around to see some familiar faces.

It was their friends from the islands.

"_Selphine! Tidus! Wakka_!" Hikari thought.

The group ran up to them.

"Whassap, you guys?" Wakka asked.

"So, whatcha wanna do today?" Selphine said.

Hikari grinned.

She was so glad that she remembered her childhood friends.

"Hey guys!" Sora said.

He seemed to be glad to see them too.

"Am I glad to see you, uh…"

"'uh' what?" Tidus asked.

"We got food on our faces?" Wakka asked.

Selphine looked at him.

"Please, Wakka" she said.

"Only you could be dumb enough to not notice food stuck to your face"

"Hey, whoa!" Wakka said.

"That's a low blow, ya?"

"I dunno, Wakka" Tidus said.

"I think Selphine's on the mark"

"Aw, not you too, Tidus!"

Sora finally recalled their names.

"Oh, yeah! You're Tidus, Selphine and Wakka, that's who you are!"

Hikari looked surprised.

Did he forget who they were?

The others seem to be thinking the same thing.

"You hit your head?" Wakka asked.

Sora rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"No, uh…just thinking aloud" he said.

Selphine smirked knowingly.

"I know…you're thinking about HER again!" she said.

Hikari didn't have to think hard about who she was talking about.

"Ohh, I get it" Tidus said.

"Yeah, he's a total zombie when she's on his mind"

"That would explain why he's actin' all funny towards us" Wakka said.

Selphine walked up to Sora.

"I bet you want us to take a hike so you two can be ALONE, right?" she asked.

A tick mark appeared on Hikari's forehead.

Was she invisible to them or something?

Sora rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Uh…I guess" he said.

Selphine laughed a little.

"Alright, alright" she said.

"We'll disappear for a little while. Go find her, cowboy"

"We'll try to be quiet while we SPY on you!" Tidus added.

"Hey, Sora's serious" Wakka said.

"Give the guy some room"

"I'm only kidding!" Tidus cried.

"See you later!" Selphine said.

They all ran off and left Sora and Hikari alone.

Hikari blinked a little when the left.

"What the heck was that all about?" she asked.

Sora shrugged.

"Beats me" he said.

Hikari just sighed.

"Let's just go look around" she said.

"It's been a while since we've been on the islands"

Sora nodded.

They walked around the beach of their home world.

Hikari didn't realize how homesick she was until just now.

/

The islands looked the same as they remembered.

The only difference was that there were heartless.

It really didn't matter to them. They were just the small weak kind.

The two keyblade masters were able to hack through them with ease, although it would have been easier if Donald and Goofy were here.

Just thinking about them made Hikari sad.

She was going to make sure Sora apologized to them when they got through this world.

They walked around the islands a bit until they reached the bridge that lead to the Paopu fruit tree.

Hikari remembered that she drew herself giving Riku a Paopu fruit in the secret cave.

"_I guess that was just a waste of time" _she thought.

"_He only cares about Namine now"_

She pushed those negative thoughts aside.

She promised that she would rescue her and that was what she was going to do.

As they crossed the bridge, they were surprised to see Riku.

He was dressed in his normal wear instead of his dark mode.

Hikari resisted the urge to growl at him. She really wanted to chew him out for everything that he had done to her.

She poured her heart and soul out to him and he just crushed it so he could be with Namine.

Riku just looked at them as if nothing was going on.

"Hey you, guys" he said.

"What's the big rush?"

Sora looked at him strangely.

"I know you…" he said.

"You're Riku!"

Hikari looked at him surprised.

Was his memory loss so bad that he forgot his best friend? The same best friend that they were fighting with in the castle over Namine?

Riku looked at him skeptical.

"Gee, thanks for remembering me" he said.

"It's been, what, a couple of hours?"

Sora rubbed his head.

"Eh…never mind" he said.

"Are you ok? Are you under his control?"

Riku lifted an eyebrow.

"What are you TALKING about?" he asked.

Hikari realized that this wasn't the Riku that they saw in the castle.

"I get it" she said.

"You must be the Riku from our memories"

Riku laughed.

"'The Riku from my memories'? Sounds like you're stuck in the land of make-believe"

Sora shrugged.

"I guess we kind of are" he said.

Riku chuckled.

"You both act like kids" he said.

"How are you going to protect HER if you act like that?"

Sora perked up a bit.

"Hey, speaking of her-"

Just then the ground started to shake.

Everyone looked around frantically.

"What's happening?" Hikari cried.

"How should I know!" Riku said.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good! I'm gonna go warn the other!"

He ran towards the bridge.

Sora looked at him.

"Then we should go-"

Riku interrupted him.

"I know! I know!" he said.

"It's your jobs to look after her. Go you guys!"

They both nodded.

"Okay"

Riku nodded and went to go warn the others.

Hikari watched at the scenery grew darker and darker.

Parts of the island were breaking up and floated towards the sky.

It reminded her of that one night.

"The island!" she cried.

There was hardly anything left to it.

They didn't think things could get worse, but it did.

They turned around and saw Darkside emerging from the ground.

Sora and Hikari drew out their keyblades.

Hikari thought this was going to be hard since they didn't have Donald and Goofy with them.

"_But then again, Sora and I did pretty well by ourselves when we last fought this guy. Who's to say we can't do it again?"_

Despite its size, the Darkside wasn't that tough.

Even though it had some powerful attacks, it let its guard down and made itself vulnerable.

That was all that they needed.

They would just swat its hands away when it tried to grab them and attacked the head.

They always remembered that if they were up with a huge enemy, they must always attack the head.

The Darkside went down like a sack of potatoes.

Sora pumped his fist in victory.

He looked at Hikari.

"Okay…Now we have to keep her safe…" he said.

Hikari really didn't know what to say to that, so she just nodded.

Sora looked around what was left of the island.

"Namine!" he cried.

"Can you hear me?"

They turned around and saw a girl standing a few feet away.

Hikari realized that this was the same girl that she saw a while ago.

"_So this is Namine" _She thought.

Sora looked happy.

"Namine"

He ran up to her while Hikari trailed behind.

Namine smiled weakly at them.

"Sora…Hikari…you really came for me" she said.

Sora nodded as he grabbed her hand.

"It's you…it's really you" he said.

"We've been through so much just to see you"

Hikari smiled weakly.

She didn't want to say that she couldn't remember Namine. Even after seeing her in person, she knew she had never met her.

Namine gave Sora a weak smile.

"Yes. I wanted to see you both, too" she said.

She hung her head sadly.

"But this isn't right" she said.

"I messed up. I wanted to see you both…but this isn't the right way"

Sora and Hikari looked confused.

What was she talking about.

"Namine?" Hikari asked.

"I was lonely for so long" Namine said.

"I just couldn't bear it anymore. So called out to your hearts and had you come all the way out to this place. You came for me and I'm so…so happy, but…but to your hearts I had to-"

Sora smiled gently at her.

"Don't worry" he said.

"I'm here because I promised that I would protect you"

Hikari nodded.

"And I just couldn't leave you in a place like this while there were bad guys lurking within the shadows. That would be wrong" she said.

Namine grinned at them.

"Sora…Hikari…thank you" she said.

"And I'm sorry"

She gently pulled her hand away from Sora.

She took a step back from them.

"I'm not supposed to be in this picture" she said.

"That's true"

They turned around to see Namine behind them, only she was transparent.

This threw Hikari off.

What was going on here?

Sora looked bewildered.

"Namine?" he asked.

The transparent Namine looked sad.

"That isn't me" she said.

"I'm not there. I don't really exist in your hearts. I don't exist in anyone's heart. I never have existed anywhere"

Sora looked between the two Namines. What was she saying? What did she mean she never existed?

"What…what are you saying?" he asked.

"What's gotten into you? Weren't we inseparable, always together? But then you had to go away…I came here so I'd never lose you again!"

The transparent Namine looked at Sora sadly.

"Was it really me you wanted to see?" she asked.

"Of course it was!" Sora cried.

"I know I've forgotten a lot of things in this castle, but never anything about you!"

He pulled out her lucky charm.

"Look! You gave this to me, didn't you?"

The visible Namine smiled.

"You have it!" she said.

"My good luck charm"

"No, Sora!" the transparent Namine said.

"You can't believe me!"

She looked at Hikari.

"Look at the visible me" she said.

"What memories do you see when you look into my eyes?"

Hikari didn't say anything this whole time.

Everything that Namine was saying just threw her off.

She didn't know what she meant when she said she wasn't supposed to exist.

But, she did what she was told and looked at the visible Namine.

She used her powers and looked through her deepest memories.

They were the same as Riku's, they were just drawings.

They were pictures of Namine being with her, Sora, and Riku.

The pictures came to her at such rapid rate, that she fell to her knees and held her head. The visible Namine turned around when she was done looking.

"Ugh!"

The memories were become too much for her. She had never seen memories that looked like that before.

Sora looked at her worriedly.

"Hikari!" he said.

Hikari looked at her weakly.

"She's right, Sora" she said.

"I don't think she was really with us. Her memories aren't normal"

Sora looked at her sadly, then at Namine.

"What am I suppose to do?" he asked.

"Think, Sora" the transparent Namine said.

"Think just one more time. About who's most special to you. Call out to that piece of memory that glimmers faintly deep inside your heart"

She smiled weakly at him.

"No matter how far away the light gets, you heart's voice will always reach it"

Sora grinned.

"Who's most special to me?" he asked.

"That's an easy one"

He looked at the lucky charm.

"It's you, Nami-"

The charm glowed brightly and transformed into a shell charm.

Sora looked shocked then turned to the visible Namine.

Hikari did the same.

The visible Namine turned around and changed into the appearance of someone Hikari remembered.

Hikari gasped when she saw the face of her closest friend.

"_Kairi!"_

She never realized that she had forgotten about her best friend until just then.

She held her chest.

"_Oh my god! After telling Sora that I would never forget about my friends, I completely forgot about my best friend! Kairi, please forgive me!"_

She looked at Kairi's face, only to see it change into someone else's.

She transformed into a young woman how looked exactly just like her with long brown hair and green eyes.

She smiled gently at her as if she knew who she was.

Hikari felt that she knew who this person was. She knew that she was very precious to her, just like Riku.

She reached her hand out towards her, but she vanished.

She realized that the island was back to normal.

She looked at Sora to see him staring at the charm.

"Who…" he said.

"Who was that? I can't remember her, but she feels so..familiar"

Hikari felt the same way about the woman that she saw.

Why was it that she felt familiar?

Sora looked up from the charm to look at Namine.

Hikari realized that she was nowhere in sight.

"Namine?" she called.

Sora looked around frantically.

"Namine!"

Hikari stood up and looked at Sora.

"I think she's in the castle" she said.

"Let's go!"

Sora nodded and they ran to the door that would lead them back to the castle.

Namine had a lot of explaining to do.

/

**A/N: So the truth is starting to leak out. Hikari remembered Kairi but she can't remember the one person who is most precious to her. Perhaps Namine will explain everything?**

**You'll just have to review if you want to find out.**

**Ja ne!**


	15. The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 14: The truth comes out

**A/N: We're pretty much at the end! Now is when the truth about Namine comes out. How will Sora and Hikari deal with it? And what will Hikari do about Riku? You'll just have to see.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Sora and Hikari caught up with Namine on the next floor.

They had questions that needed to be answered.

What did she mean that she never existed in their lives and who were those people that they saw.

Hikari knew that one of them was Kairi, but she didn't know who that other woman was.

"_I know that she's important to me" _she thought.

"_But I can't think of her name"_

They skidded to a stop when they saw her.

"Namine!" Hikari cried.

Sora took a step towards her.

He was more confused than Hikari was.

He had thought that the one who was most important to him was Namine, but when he looked at the lucky charm, he saw someone else.

Did that mean that Namine wasn't a part of his life?

He looked at her sadly.

"It isn't you" he said.

"The person most special to me-it's not you…right?"

Namine sadly looked at the floor before looking at him.

"No" she said.

"The girl you really care about…the one who was always with you…It's not me. It's her"

Sora looked at her sadly.

So if Namine wasn't important to him, then who was?

He felt that he knew that girl, but he just couldn't remember her.

"But then who…who is she?" he asked.

"Cuz I can't…think of her name. If she's so special to me, then why can't I remember?"

Hikari bit her lip.

So Sora couldn't remember Kairi?

The one who he drew himself giving her a Paopu fruit?

The one who was most precious to him?

Namine sadly looked at the ground.

"Because I went into your memories and-"

"Let ME explain this"

Everyone turned around to see Riku standing near the stairs.

"Plain and simple"

Hikari bit her lip in fear as she saw him.

AS much as she claimed that she loved him, she feared him at this point.

He was like a mindless droid who thought of nothing but Namine.

It hurt her deeply.

The man that she loved most didn't even think about her.

He didn't even remember her lucky charm that she gave him.

"_The man that I once loved is no more" _she thought.

Riku walked up to them, with his Soul eater in hand.

"Your memories are a train wreak" he said to them.

"You're not the ones who are suppose to protect Namine. It's suppose to be me!"

He lifted up his Soul Eater.

"But you and your messed-up memories are always in the way!"

Hikari let out a shaky breath.

It seemed that no matter what they did, Riku was still set on protecting Namine.

She summoned her keyblade and pointed it at him.

"It seems that no matter what Sora and I say or do, you're still set on one thing" she said.

She had tears in her eyes as she looked at the one she loved.

"I poured my heart and soul out to you; I saved you from Ansem's clutches, and this is how you repay me?"

She got into a fighting stance.

"If I have to fight you on my own, then so be it"

Sora stood next to her and drew out his keyblade.

"We'll fight together" he said.

Hikari smiled slightly.

It was nice to know that she had a friend that would back her up.

They both looked at Riku before they ran at him.

They weren't going to let him run away from this fight.

Hikari didn't bother to cast spells on him. She wanted to hit with her keyblade. She wanted him to physically feel the pain that she was going through. She wanted him to feel the heartache that she was enduring.

She didn't let up until he was down on his knees.

When he was gasping for breath, Sora went up to him.

"Riku" he said.

Riku looked up and glared at him.

"Want some more?"

He shot dark energy at him, sending Sora to the ground.

"Sora!" Hikari and Namine cried.

Riku got up to his feet.

He slowly walked over to him with his Soul eater drawn.

Hikari instinctively stood in front of him and held her keyblade out.

"Riku" she said.

Riku glared at her.

"Looks like I win" he said.

Namine panicked.

"Riku, stop!" she said.

He didn't listen to her and raised his Soul Eater.

"Your are through!"

Hikari was about to attack, but Namine was one step ahead of her.

" I said STOP!"

As she said 'stop', Riku acted funny.

It was like he was zapped and fell to his knees.

Hikari looked horrified as she saw Riku lifelessly on the ground.

Sora got on his hands and knees as he saw his friend go down

"Riku?" he asked.

Hikari got to her knees.

She placed his head in her lap.

"Riku! RIKU!" she cried.

She looked at Namine with tears in her eyes.

"What did you do?" She cried.

"What did you do to him?"

Sure, she was mad at Riku, but she didn't want him to be hurt.

Namine looked upset at what she did.

She was cut off when a portal opened to reveal Larxene.

"Broke his heart" she explained.

"I'd say more like she smashed it, really"

Hikari felt a lump in her throat.

"Smashed…his heart?" she asked.

She looked down at Riku's body.

His heart was smashed beyond repair?

Sora looked horrified at his friend.

"Then…what's gonna…what's gonna happen to Riku?" he asked.

Larxene laughed wickedly.

"Oh, you two are so much fun to watch" she said.

"If it's Riku you're worried about, then don't. Because Riku was never really here"

The threw Hikari off.

How could Riku not be here when he was resting within her lap?

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Larxene just smirked darkly at Hikari's confused look.

"Do you really think I'm just gonna say it?" she asked.

"That's too easy! Oh, what to do?"

They glared at her.

"Quit the games!" Sora snapped.

He charged at her, but Larxene just kicked him out of the way.

"Sora!" Hikari cried.

Larxene just smirked evilly at them.

"All right, have it your way, then" she said.

"I know it'll kill you both to hear this, but I think I can live with that"

She pointed to Riku.

"That thing lying there is just a puppet that Vexen made as an experiment. No more than a toy"

Hikari looked at 'Riku'.

"It's laughable, really" Larxene said.

"It called you fakes, But IT was a fabrication all along"

So Hikari was suffering heart ache over a puppet that looked like the man that she loved.

"Not Riku?" She asked.

"A fake?"

"Fake in every possible way" Larxene said.

"It was only finished recently. How could it remember anything?"

She walked up to them and picked 'Riku' up by the scruff of his neck.

"You get it?" she asked.

"Its memories with Namine were just planted, not real"

She tossed him to the side like a rag doll.

Hikari let out a little cry.

Even though she now knew that this wasn't the real Riku, it still pained her to see his puppet get through around.

It was still part of him in a way.

"Yup. That means, all this time, it's been picking fights with you over memories- that were counterfeit, trumped up, and completely bogus" Larxene said.

She looked at Namine.

"Isn't that right, Namine?"

She walked over to her and held her face.

"Oh, so cute…but behind this little face, you do awful things"

Namine pulled out of her grasp.

Sora looked at her sadly.

"Namine…" he said.

Namine didn't look at them. She was too ashamed.

"You're so stupid" Larxene said to him.

"Don't you get it now? That's what Namine's powers are about! She can enter, rearrange, and even create new memories-of anything, even things that never happened"

She looked at Namine evilly.

"The girl you've been trying to protect all this time-is really a manipulative witch who shackles people's hearts! "

Sora and Hikari looked surprised.

So that explained why Hikari didn't know who she was or why Sora suddenly started remembering her.

"_If that's the case, then why wasn't I able to remember her?" _Hikari thought.

Sora looked at the ground.

"Then…my memories…are all…"

"Oh, you do get it!" Larxene said.

"Lies, lies, all lies! Just Namine's illusions, nothing more"

She placed her hands on her hips.

"Binding you two in the chains of your memories was central to our trap" she said.

"It makes me tingle to think how easily you were duped. So close to it- we were almost there"

She glared hardly at them.

"This was our only chance to turn the keyblade masters into our puppets, but-that jerk Axel-he used Namine to betray us!"

She summoned up her knives.

Hikari quickly took out her keyblade and stood in front of Sora.

He was still down from Larxene's kick, so she needed to protect him.

"So now, I'm left with no choice but to eliminate you both!"

Hikari glared at her.

She had just about had it with this chick.

Every time she spoke, it would set her off.

It just made her mad that they had fallen into their trap so easily.

"You'll pay…" she said.

Larxene started to walk over to them.

Namine panicked and ran over to them so she was blocking them from Larxene.

"Don't!" she cried.

Larxene glared at her.

"Huh? It's a little late for the witch to grow a conscience" she said.

"Last time I checked-YOU'RE the one who fooled around with their memories creating this mess"

Namine bit her lip.

She was terrified to be standing up against Larxene, but she just couldn't let her kill Sora and Hikari. They didn't deserve this.

"I know, but-"

Larxene just kept glaring at her.

"I should tell you that I'm in an EXTREMELY foul mood"

As she said that, electricity sparked around her body.

"Thanks to you, all our plans are ruined!"

She swatted Namine out of the way and made her land next to the Riku puppet.

"Namine!" Sora cried.

Hikari looked horrified.

Sure, she was upset that Namine did this to them, but she didn't deserve that.

"What's this?" Larxene asked.

"Are you upset? And you don't even actually know her!"

Sora got to his feet.

"Maybe not" he said.

"But still…I made…a promise"

Larxene raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

Sora just drew out his keyblade.

"A promise I made to Namine to keep her safe" he continued.

"Maybe my memories are fake. But the promise is real to me. That's why-I'll keep it"

Hikari grinned at him.

Leave it to Sora to say something like that.

She glared at Larxene.

"Even thought I don't remember her" she said.

"I still promised that I would rescue her. Just the thought of her being trapped within this castle with people like you running around just made me want to help her. True, my mind says that I don't know her, but my heart is telling me that she's a friend. So I'm just going to go with what my heart tells me and follow it!"

Larxene just gave them a dull glare.

"Hmph. You're such idiots" she said.

"There is no promise and there never was! You're just delusional. Must you insist on playing the heroes?"

She simply shrugged.

"Whatever. If that's the way you want it…You're going down alone!"

She was about to attack them, but she was blocked by a shield.

Hikari gasped when she recognized it.

She suddenly felt herself and Sora get healed.

"Not if we can stop you!"

They saw Donald and Goofy running up to them and standing protectively in front of them.

Hikari smiled.

"Donald! Goofy!" she cried.

Sora grinned as well.

"You found us!"

Goofy smiled at them.

"Of course we did!" he said.

"We were worried about you two"

"And we promised!" Donald added.

"We promised that we would protect you both!"

Hikari smiled softly at them as they faced Larxene.

"You won't ever be alone" Goofy said.

"It's always been the four of us and we stick together"

"And that's how it's gonna stay!" Donald added.

Sora and Hikari grinned at that.

They both got into fighting stances and faced Larxene.

The blond just smiled darkly at them.

"Ok…have it your way" she said.

"More pain for you means more fun for me!"

Hikari growled at her.

She was going to make this witch pay.

Everyone jumped at Larxene.

Since they learned she could create an electric field with her knives, they wanted to make sure she didn't have the chance to do it this time.

Hikari got really crazy and threw her keyblade away so she could jump Larxene.

The two girls wrestled around the ground and pulled each other's hair and kicked at each other.

"Get off me, you little imp!" Larxene screamed.

"Drop dead you savage nymph!" Hikari cried.

The guys just stayed out of the way as the two girls continued their cat fight.

This fight was getting nasty and they didn't want to get caught up in it.

At one point, Larxene kicked Hikari off of her and stood up.

It seemed that Hikari managed to rip part of her jacket and messed her hair.

The blonde glared hardly at her.

"You are SO dead!"

She held up her knives and had electricity zap around them.

Hikari got to her feet and gripped her keyblade tightly.

She looked at Sora.

"Sora!"

He nodded and held out his keyblade as well.

The two keyblade masters aimed their keyblades at Larxene and watched as beams of light shot out from the tips of their keys.

They both his Larxene square in the chest, initially defeating her.

Larxene held her chest as she staggered back.

She couldn't believe that she lost to a couple of brats.

"No…No! I refuse to lose to such a bunch of losers!" she cried weakly.

Her body started to break up into black particles, similar to how Vexen faded away.

Larxene looked at herself.

"I think I'm…I'm fading?"

She shook her head desperately.

"No, this isn't…the way I…I won't…ALLOW…"

With that, she disappeared completely, never to be seen again.

"Good riddance" Hikari said.

/

After the fight was over, everyone went over to Namine.

She was standing next to the Riku puppet.

Hikari looked at it sadly.

"_All this time, I thought Riku didn't love me, but it turns out it wasn't really him" _she thought.

"_I'm such an idiot"_

She looked at Namine sadly.

The poor girl looked so miserable that it broke her heart.

She really didn't know what exactly that she did to them, but she really couldn't blame her.

From the way she looked, it seemed that she really didn't have a choice.

Sora seemed to be feeling the same way.

He was confused about everything, but he felt that she would explain everything to them.

Donald and Goofy were oblivious to all of this.

Since they arrived after Larxene explained everything, they were left in the dark with this whole situation.

"You must be Namine!" Goofy said happily.

"It's good to meet ya. We're friends of Sora and Hikari. My name is-"

"You're Goofy, and you're Donald" Namine finished for them.

The two of them looked surprised that she knew them.

"Yeah, but how did you know that?" Donald asked.

Goofy grinned at Sora.

"Congratulations, Sora!" he said.

"You finally found your friend. I'm so happy for ya!"

Sora had his head down the whole time.

Hikari rubbed her head as she sighed.

"Um…"

Jiminy appeared on her shoulder.

"Gee, there sure are a lot of questions…" he said.

He looked at Namine.

"Namine, I know this probably won't be easy for ya…but could you tell us what happened?"

Namine nodded sadly.

"Of course" she said.

"It's my fault, after all"

She stood up from where she was sitting and faced them.

"I took the people and memories that were inside Sora and Hikari's hearts…and little by little, I replaced them with false memories" she began.

So that explained why Sora remembered Namine. She replaced Kairi with herself.

"Hey…what about Sora's promise?" Donald asked.

Namine looked at the ground sadly.

"Made up. It was fake" she said.

"Sora never really promised me anything, and Hikari never my best friend. Me being with them on the islands-that was a lie, just like everything else. We never met. I was never their friend"

Sora sadly looked up at her.

"And you were never anything more-either…" he said.

Namine shook her head.

"No" she said.

"You see, in all of your true memories, I was never really there"

"Gee, then that must mean it was your magic that made the rest of us lose our memories too" Jiminy said.

"Is there any way for us to ever get them back?"

Namine nodded.

"I can fix everything if we go to the thirteenth floor" she said.

Hikari looked at her.

Something just didn't add up.

If Namine messed with their memories and made Sora remember her, then why couldn't she?

"Hey, Namine. How is it that Sora was able to 'remember' you but I couldn't?"

Namine smiled weakly at her.

"It's because you're a Sorceress who has powers over memories" she said.

"You're able to see a person's past by just touching them. You're only able to see true memories, not fake ones. That's why my powers didn't work on you. I was able to make you forget about the one who was most special to you…but I couldn't make you remember me. That's how strong your powers are"

Hikari mulled this over.

She knew that her power over memories was special, she just didn't realize how special they were until now.

Now she understood why when she saw 'Riku's' memories, they came out as drawings-they weren't real.

"If you knew they wouldn't work on me…then why did you still do it?"

Namine looked away.

"I didn't want to, but Marluxia, he-"

"Bet I know who that is" Jiminy said.

"Was he the fella who made you tamper with all of our memories?"

Namine nodded.

"If I didn't obey, he said I would be locked in this castle forever" she said.

"I've been alone for so long…"

"So you did what he told you to do because you were lonely?" Goofy asked.

Namine bit her lip.

"I'm so sorry" she said.

Sora looked at her sadly.

"Don't be" he said.

"Please don't cry"

Namine smiled apologetically.

"Oh…of course" she said.

"I know I really don't have the right to"

"That's not what I meant" Sora said.

Namine looked surprised.

"What?"

Sora placed his hands behind his head.

"It's like this…I'm really not happy about you messing with our memories" he said.

"But…you know-I can't really get mad at you for it, either. These memories you gave me…in my head, I know they're lies-but they still feel right. Like the promise I made."

He smiled at her and rubbed his head nervously.

" I said I would protect you and that I would never make you cry…not ever. Namine…if you cry now-I'll feel guilty, like I let you down. So don't cry…please. Until I get my memories back, smile and try to be happy. It's easier on me that way"

Namine looked touched.

"Sora…"

Donald looked at him.

"Oh, brother" he said.

"That was a bit much"

Hikari giggled.

"It's ok" she said.

"Sora always gets like this every time he's around a girl"

Sora looked embarrassed.

"Aw, come on!" he said.

"I thought you guys lost your memories, too!"

Donald laughed.

"Too bad! Good friends don't forget the good stuff!"

Everyone just laughed at Sora.

Namine smiled and giggled a little.

"There! That's it!" Sora said.

"That's the Namine I remember"

He smiled softly.

"Yeah…I really liked it when you used to smile. Of course, that was really only in my fake memoires. But what I'm felling now definitely isn't fake. It's real"

Namine smiled softly at him.

"Thank you"

She looked at Hikari.

"Are you mad at me too?"

Hikari just gave her a grin.

"Nah" she said.

"I can't blame you for what happened. You didn't have a choice"

She rubbed her head.

"Besides, even though I couldn't remember you, I knew that I wanted to save you. Nobody deserves to be trapped like a prisoner, no matter who they are, or what they can do"

Namine looked touched.

"Hikari…"

Sora looked at the group.

"well, then, let's go" he said.

"Oh boy! I can't wait to get my memories back!" Donald said.

Goofy looked at Namine.

"Namine. Marluxia is gonna be up there, so maybe you'd better stay down here" he suggested.

Sora nodded.

"Yeah. Maybe you could look after Riku?" he asked.

"We'll come get you when it's over"

Namine nodded.

"Okay"

Hikari sadly looked at the Riku puppet.

She went over to it and knelt next it.

She brushed his hair out of his face.

"You know…I always thought that I knew everything about Riku" she said quietly.

"I guess I couldn't even tell that this one was a fake. I must be an idiot"

Namine walked over to her and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"That's not true" she said.

"This Riku was made from the memories you had of him. You couldn't tell because he's part of the real Riku"

Hikari looked at her.

"Why was he created anyway?"

Namine looked sad.

"Since I couldn't make you 'remember' me, Marluxia decided to make a Riku Replica. Your memories tied more towards him. Marluxia thought that if you saw this Riku care more about me than you, then you would lose your memories faster"

Hikari looked back at the Riku Replica.

"What a cruel thing to do" she said.

She stood up.

"He'll pay"

She looked at her friends and nodded.

"Let's go"

They started to walk towards the stairs.

Sora and Hikari looked at Namine for a second.

She smiled at them.

"Please be careful, Sora…Hikari"

They both nodded before going up to the top level of the castle.

/

**A/N: So it really wasn't Riku that Hikari was suffering over. Since Larxene is out of the way, that only leave Marluxia.**

**Will they be able to stop him, or will it be too late?**

**Please review and tell me what you think.**


	16. The Graceful Assassin

Chapter 15: The Graceful Assassin

**A/N: We're at the second to last chapter! Thanks for sticking with me till now.**

**Now is where the final showdown starts. Sora and Hikari must defeat Marluxia if they want to free Namine. Will they succeed? You'll just have to read to find out.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

After a long and eventful task, they had finally made it to the top level.

They had to endure thirteen levels of forgetting their memoires.

Thirteen long agonizing levels of tracking a girl they thought they knew, only to find out it was all made.

Donald and Goofy weren't as affected by it as Sora and Hikari were.

True, Hikari didn't remember Namine, but she had forgotten the one who was most important to her and had to fight with a fake Riku thanks to her.

"_But I can't really blame her" _she thought.

"_She was a prisoner to this castle. If it were me, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I didn't want to"_

She touched her neck where her pendant was.

"_The person who was most precious to me. She gave me my necklace…but why can't I remember her? I can see her face clearly now, but her name is still a blank. I guess I won't know until Namine fixes my memories"_

She looked at Sora.

From what she could tell, he couldn't remember Kairi.

He was able to see her face and have her lucky charm back, but she was still a stranger to him.

"_I guess the only reason that I was able to remember her was because she isn't as precious to me as she is to Sora. She's my best friend, but to him, she's more than that"_

Just thinking about how Kairi was Sora's special someone made her think of Riku.

She was relieved that the one she was fighting this whole time wasn't really him, but it pained her to think that he was never here.

She had hoped that she would find him soon, but it seemed like it wasn't going to be that easy.

She smiled sadly.

Now that she thought about it, he never really did like being rescued.

He would always say that it wasn't cool for a girl to rescue a guy. He said it would be a stab to his pride.

She smirked.

"_Then again, I did rescue him from Ansem and brought him back from the darkness. Maybe he's accepted that girls can rescue guys as well"_

She sighed as she looked up at the ceiling.

"_No matter what happens, I'll be there to save him. I'll be that light within the darkness for him. I'll pull him back to us and bathe him in the light. I'll be him knight"_

They continued walking to where Marluxia would be.

It didn't take them long enough to figure out that he would be in the deepest part of the castle.

/

As they were walking, Sora suddenly stopped.

He pulled out the lucky charm that was in his pocket and examined it.

It looked really familiar, but he just couldn't recall the person who gave it to him.

"Who was it?" he asked himself.

"Who's most important to me?"

Hikari stopped when she noticed he wasn't moving.

She saw the lucky charm and knew he was trying to remember.

She and the others walked over to him.

"Can't you remember?" she asked.

Sora shook his head.

"No. I only remember Namine" he said.

"C'mon, do you guys remember anything at all?"

They shook their heads.

"No. Sorry, Sora" Donald said.

"It's important, but I can't remember…I don't want to be, but I'm getting scared"

Hikari smiled at him sadly.

"_Me too, Donald. Me too"_

Goofy suddenly thought of something.

"Then we should really make a promise!" he said.

Everyone looked at him.

"Huh?"

"What Sora said back there kinda got my brain a-thinkin" Goofy said.

"Whenever you or Hikari make a promise that's super-duper big-maybe it gives you the courage to face the scary stuff?"

Hikari thought about what he said.

"Courage?"

Now that he mentioned it, he had a point.

When Riku became Ansem's puppet, she sacrificed her heart just so he could be free, even when she knew it would complete the final keyhole.

And when she fought with Ansem at the End of the Worlds, she just thought of all the horrible things he did to everyone, and pushed her fears of the dark aside.

This journey was no different.

Even though she lost half of her memories, she was going to push that aside so she could defeat Marluxia and save Namine.

Sora pumped his fists in encouragement.

"Yeah! Let's do it!" Donald said.

He held his hand out.

"Even if we get scared, or in trouble-"

Hikari placed her hand over his.

"Or even if we get separated-"

Goofy placed his hand over hers.

"Or even if we sorta forget each other-"

Sora placed his hand over theirs.

"Whatever happens-we're friends"

"All for one, and one for all!" Donald cried.

They broke the connection.

Sora looked at Hikari for a moment.

"Hey, Hikari. Were you able to remember the one who was most precious to you?" he asked.

"I mean besides Riku"

Hikari smiled sadly as she shook her head.

"No" she said quietly.

"I can't remember her. Her name comes out as a blank"

Tears pooled her eyes as she thought of the woman in her head.

"But…when I think about her, it warms my heart. But I'm having trouble remembering what kind of person she was. It's really tough when you lose something precious…and there's a big hole in your heart"

She looked at him sadly.

"I think I understand what you're going through right now"

Sora went up to her and hugged her.

"It's ok" he said.

"We're not going to lose anything. Before we leave this castle we're going to find..the reason we came here"

He let her go and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"So don't cry. I made a promise to the real Riku that I would protect you until we reunited with him. And I intend to keep that promise"

Hikari smiled at him.

"Thanks, Sora"

Sora grinned at her in return.

"Anytime"

With that out of the way, they walked deeper within the castle.

/

The whole floor was filled with heartless.

It seemed that Marluxia knew they were coming, so he sent the strongest kind of heartless to stop them.

That didn't faze them at all. In fact, it just made them want to get to Marluxia faster.

If he could summon up heartless that were this strong, then he needed to be destroyed.

Hikari used her magic to get rid of them faster.

These heartless were more immune to physical blows than they were to magic.

That meant she and Donald had to fight more than Sora and Goofy.

"_I never get cut any slack" _she thought.

But she didn't care.

She knew that this was the only way she could regain her memories of the woman that was most precious to her.

If they could defeat Marluxia, then Namine could fix her memories.

As she thought of the young witch, she hoped that she was alright.

/

Back on the twelfth floor, Namine sat next to the Riku Replica.

She sadly brushed his hair out of his lifeless face.

"I'm so sorry" she said to it.

She felt horrible that all of this happened because of her.

If Marluxia didn't threaten to lock her up in the castle forever, she would never have done all of these things.

She smiled sadly.

"At least Sora and Hikari forgive me" she said quietly.

"The least I can do is restore their memoires"

As she was looking at the replica's body, she failed to notice a dark portal opening up from behind her.

/

Back with the group, they continued to fight their way towards Marluxia.

"How far do you think this level goes?" Hikari asked.

Sora shrugged.

"I don't know" he said.

"The only way to find out is to keep going"

Hikari nodded and followed him.

As they were going, they were slowly getting tired.

Fighting all of these heartless were wearing them down.

That's when it occurred to Hikari.

"_Marluxia didn't summon these heartless to keep us at bay…he wanted to weaken us so when he fought him, we wouldn't stand a chance"_

She ground her teeth in frustration.

"_He's messed with the wrong keyblade masters"_

They pushed onward towards the deepest part of the castle.

They were going to show just what happens when you toy with a keyblade master.

/

In the deepest part of the castle, Marluxia walked down one of the hallways.

He was not happy that his plans were ruined.

First Axel let Namine go; now Larxene was gone.

This was not good at all.

As he was walking, a portal opened up from behind him.

He stopped when he heard someone stepping out of it.

He didn't need to look back to see who it was.

His face was very grim as he addressed to Axel.

"You have some nerve to show your treasonous face around here…some nerve indeed-"

"Treasonous?" Axel asked.

He had a cocky grin on his face.

"I don't know what you could possibly be talking about"

Marluxia growled slightly as he turned around.

He glared at Axel darkly.

His plans were ruined because of him.

"Why let Namine go?" he asked.

"If it weren't for you needless meddling- we could have turned the keyblade masters to come and serve us"

Axel put his hands on his hips.

"Oh, right, your big plan" he said.

"You use Namine to rewrite Sora and Hikari's memoires piece by little piece. And they turn into her little puppets. Then using Namine, Sora and Hikari together, you and Larxene overthrow the organization. Although, it seems like Namine's trick didn't work on one of the keyblade masters. Hikari may have forgotten parts of her memory, but she couldn't 'remember' Namine"

He wore a know it all smirk.

"Am I right? I would say that YOU are the traitor, Marluxia"

Marluxia glared at him.

He finally figured out Axel's true motives.

"Since when were you suspicious of us?" he asked.

Axel tried to look innocent, but wasn't really trying.

"Do either one of us have the heart to believe anyone?" he asked.

Marluxia smirked slightly.

"So you only eliminated Vexen to obtain proof of our plan?" he asked.

"That, I didn't want to do, but it was your order" Axel said.

He summoned up his flaming Chakrams.

"Remember the order: 'You must eliminate the traitor'"

He grinned darkly at Marluxia.

"I always follow orders, Marluxia"

/

Back with the group, they were getting closer and closer to their destination.

"Come on, just a couple more heartless and we're clear" Sora said.

Nobody complained that they were tired or that they needed a break.

They just kept hacking through the heartless until they reached a door that stood at the end of the hallway.

"Marluxia must be on the other side" Hikari said.

"Be sure to expect the worse"

Donald cured everyone quickly before they took a mini break.

They didn't know how strong Marluxia was, but if he was in charge of this castle, then he had to be a lot stronger than the other organization members that they fought with.

Hikari looked up at the doors that stood in front of them.

She was going set Namine free and get revenge for being tricked with a fake Riku.

This Marluxia guy must have known how important he was to her.

"_Nobody messes with me and lives to tell the tale" _she thought.

Sora stood up from where he was sitting and looked at the group.

"You guys ready?" he asked.

They all nodded.

"Alright. Then let's go"

He pushed opened the doors and lead the group into the next room.

/

Axel smiled darkly at Marluxia.

Now that he revealed his and Larxene's plans, he had no need to work with him anymore.

"Larxene paid the price for disloyalty when she disappeared…" he said.

"You must do the same!"

He charged at Marluxia with his chakrams out.

Marluxia saw his attack and blocked him with his scythe. He pushed him back and watched as Axel threw his charkams at him while he flipped back. He swat them back with his scythe.

Axel grabbed his discarded weapons and held them out to his side.

"The Organization's betrayed" he said.

"In that name, I must eliminate you"

Marluxia smirked all knowing.

"That line's not you" he said.

Axel shrugged.

"Well, had to try it once, you know" he said.

They continued fighting for a bit.

Axel seemed to have the upper hand, but Marluxia still had a few tricks up his sleeves.

When the red head jumped back to launch his next attack, that's when Marluxia pulled out his trump card.

In a shower of flower petals, he produced Namine and had her stand in front of him like a shield.

Namine looked at Axel terrified.

Axel wore a grin that seemed to say 'Are you kidding me?'.

"It that your shield?" he asked.

"Won't do you any good, I'm afraid"

Marluxia wore a know it all grin.

"I wonder" he said.

He looked over Axel's shoulder to see our heroes.

"Are you listening, Sora and Hikari?"

Axel looked over his shoulder to see the group.

"Oh?" he asked mildly surprised.

The group had come into the room when Marluxia summoned Namine in front of him.

"Axel says he's willing to harm Namine to get to me" Marluxia said.

"You won't let that happen, will you?"

Everyone drew out their weapons and got into their fighting stances.

Hikari glared at Marluxia.

He would willingly use Namine as a human shield just so he wouldn't get hurt.

"_Coward!"_

Axel rolled his eyes at them.

"Oh, come now" he said.

"You're Marluxia's puppets already?"

Sora glared at Axel.

Even though he knew that Namine wasn't the one who was most precious to him, it still irked him that Axel would hurt her.

He made a promise to her after all, even if it was fake.

"After we finish you, he's next!" he cried.

Axel chuckled a little.

"Now you two" he said.

"We've got more in common than you might think"

He turned to look at them.

"I'd really rather not fight you both…but I can't dishonor the organization, now can I?"

Everyone launched into the fight when Axel set his charkams on fire.

"You really need to chill" Hikari said as she cast a blizzard spell on him.

Her magical skills weren't at its best at the moment since she was still trying to recover battling all of those heartless.

But she was glad to see that her spells still affected Axel.

The red head grunted as the blizzard spell hit him. That was the down side to having fire powers.

Axel put up a fight with them, unlike their last one. It was as if he was taking them seriously this time.

But they somehow managed to defeat him, even though they were about to pass out from exhaustion.

Axel held his side as he looked at them.

He never thought that a couple of kids could beat him.

"You two are better than I thought you'd be" he said.

He smirked as he saw them hold their keyblades out.

"It was worth saving you both after all"

Sora and Hikari raised an eyebrow.

Save them? How could he be saving them if he was fighting with them?

"Saving us?" Sora asked.

"What do you mean?"

Axel chuckled lightly.

"Sorry. I would hate to kill the suspense" he said.

With that, he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

"Axel!"

Sora looked sad for a moment, but then suddenly realized something was off.

He noticed that Marluxia and Namine were no longer in the room.

"He must have fled when we were fighting" Hikari said.

Sora looked at her.

"Come on! Let's go!"

Hikari gave him a weak chuckle.

"Uh, Sora"

She pointed behind her to show Donald and Goofy passed.

Sora sweat dropped slightly.

"Let's take a three minute break" he said.

"Then we'll high tail it through the castle to catch up with Marluxia"

Hikari nodded as she sat on the ground.

"Fine by me" she said.

Sora sat down as well and tried to regain his breath.

He wanted to be at full strength when he fought with Marluxia.

/

After their little break, they sprinted down the hallway.

Since this was the top level they knew there was no place for Marluxia to hide.

"We have him trapped within a corner" Hikari said.

They ran down the hallway and found him standing in front of a door with Namine in tow.

They skidded to a stop when they got close.

Marluxia smirked evilly.

"You've defeated Axel" he said to Sora and Hikari.

He laughed at that.

"The powers of the keyblades- how I've longed to make it my own"

Sora and Hikari glared at him while they summoned their blades.

"Let Namine go!" Sora cried.

Marluxia just smirked at them.

"You have no chance of winning" he said.

He placed his hand on Namine's shoulder.

"Namine…erase Sora's memory"

Namine gasped in horror while everyone panicked.

Namine pulled away and looked at Marluxia.

"But if I do that…"

Marluxia nodded.

"That's right" he said.

"Sora's heart will be destroyed"

"His heart destroyed?" Goofy asked.

Hikari paled at that.

This man held no boundaries when it came to obtaining power. He was willing to sacrifice someone just to get the keyblade.

"_You monster!"_

"I'd rather have preferred him unmarred, but he can be rebuilt-more to my liking. It would have been better if Namine could erase Hikari's memory as well, but it seems like her powers don't work on her, so she's a dud. If I can't use her powers, then I'll just use Sora's"

He looked at Namine.

"Do it, Namine"

Namine glared at him.

"No" she said.

Marluxia as Namine kept her stare.

"Sora forgave me even when I deceived him" she said.

"So how could I destroy his heart? There's no way! I don't care what happens to me. I won't hurt Sora! I won't do it!"

Hikari looked at Sora.

From his reaction, she could tell that he was going to go through with it, just so Namine could be safe.

She bit her lip.

"_Sora's been risking his life for this girl, even though he doesn't know her" _she thought.

"_And what about me? Even though I agreed that I would help saving her, I haven't really done anything for her. I said I would protect her and set her free, but how will I do that if I'm just standing around"_

She looked at Marluxia and Namine.

"_If I have Namine use her powers on me…I'll risk the chance of losing all of my memories again. I've spent years trying to reclaim them, and I want to remember that woman"_

As she thought of the woman, she couldn't help but feel like she would agree with what she was about to do.

"_But I'm sure she wouldn't be happy with me if I just let my friends suffer"_

Marluxia glared at Namine.

"Then you will-"

"Wait!"

Everyone looked to see Hikari stepping forward.

She looked at Namine.

"Do it, Namine! Erase my memory!"

Sora and the others panicked.

"Hikari, why'd you say that?" Goofy asked.

Hikari bit her lip.

"Because…I promised Namine that I would protect her and that I would set her free."

She looked at Sora.

"And if she erased Sora's memories, who would protect Namine?"

Sora was caught off guard with that.

Hikari looked at Marluxia.

"You were wrong about me" she said.

"I wasn't able to remember Namine with her powers, but she was able to erase parts of my memories"

She looked at Namine.

"Just do it! I'm supposedly your best friend, right? Best friends help each other out through the most difficult problems"

Namine looked at her sadly.

"Hikari…" she said.

Hikari just smiled at her.

"I don't need memories to take on someone like Marluxia" she said.

"I have the powers to see people's memories. As long as Sora, Donald, and Goofy remember about me, then I'll become myself in no time"

The group nodded.

"She's right" Donald said.

"We'll always remember our friends!"

Marluxia scoffed.

"You ignorant fool" he said.

"If Namine uses her powers to erase your memory, you'll be nothing but an empty shell. Your heart will no longer be able to feel or to care. Just like- Vexen's pathetic imitation of your Riku"

"Take another guess"

Just then, the Riku Replica appeared through a dark portal and went to attack Marluxia.

The graceful assassin jumped out of the way and let Namine go.

Hikari gasped when she saw the replica standing before her.

Her heart knew that he was a fake, but her mind kept telling her it was really him.

"Riku!" she cried.

The Replica just held his soul eater out, without even looking at her.

"No. Just an imitation" he said.

Marluxia glared at him.

"You're a shell-a shell who has had everything taken! Everything!"

The Replica just looked at him coldly.

"What can you possibly think I ever had?" he asked.

"Both my body and my heart are fake. But…there is one memory I'll keep…even if it's just a lie! Whether it was a phantom promise or not…I will protect Namine!"

Hikari smiled sadly at him.

Now that she knew he wasn't the real Riku, she was fine with him protecting Namine. In fact, she pitied him.

"_He has no one to care for but her" _she thought.

Marluxia glared at them all.

"Imbeciles…" he said.

He summoned his scythe in a shower of flower petals.

"You would knowingly shackle your hearts with a chain of memories born of lies?" he asked.

Everyone pulled out their weapons and got into fighting stances.

"You would be the ones who have hearts, yet cast aside your heart's freedom?" Marluxia asked.

Riku stood protectively in front of Namine.

"You turn from the truth because your hearts are weak- you will never defeat me!"

Sora and Hikari rushed in with their keyblades and attacked Marluxia.

The graceful assassin had the upper hand on them and just blocked them with his scythe before throwing them away.

They both flipped back on their feet and went at him again.

While they did, Donald and Goofy did a combo attack.

Donald would cast spells on Marluxia while Goofy blocked his attacks with his shield.

Everyone worked together to throw him off.

Sora and Hikari got him on one side while Donald and Goofy got him on the other.

After a while, Marluxia couldn't keep up with them and just got hit by their attacks.

When they all attacked him at the same time, they got him for good.

His body started breaking up into flower petals before disappearing.

Everyone let up on their weapons when he was gone.

"Is he gone?" Donald asked.

Sora gave him the thumbs up.

"You could say that"

Everyone whipped around to see Marluxia appearing through a dark portal.

"However, what you destroyed was merely an illusion of me" he said.

Sora glared at him.

The Riku Replica ran past them.

"So what?" he asked.

He attacked Marluxia, only to see him break up into flower petals.

He growled.

"Another imitation" he said.

They all walked over to him.

Sora and Hikari looked at the door before them.

"He's really…in there?" Sora asked.

"Yes" Namine said.

"I knew it" Hikari said.

"I can feel his power"

"It's trying to destroy our hearts" Sora added.

"Gawrsh, we'll just take care of him together!" Goofy said.

"Let's go!" Donald added.

Sora and Hikari nodded.

Hikari looked at Namine and Riku for a moment.

There was no way they could just leave Namine alone. They made that mistake already and looked where it put her?

They only person she knew that could protect her was the Riku Replica.

She looked at Sora for a moment as if it see if it was ok.

He gently smiled at her and nodded.

Hikari smiled in return and looked at the Replica.

"Riku…protect Namine"

The Replica looked surprised that she would offer that idea.

"You don't…mind?"

Hikari smiled at him.

"Should I?" she asked.

The Replica looked away shamefully.

"But…after what I put you through over Namine"

Hikari just placed her hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok. I don't blame you" she said.

"My Knight in Shining armor was never here. So why don't you stop sulking and be Namine's knight?"

The Replica smiled softly at her.

"All right"

Hikari nodded before looking at Sora.

"Let's go" she said.

He nodded and lead the group towards the door.

They opened it up and went inside, knowing that this would be the toughest battle that they ever fought.

/

As they ran into the room, they searched for Marluxia.

The whole area was white and gave the room an eerie feeling.

Sora looked up and saw Marluxia floating above them.

The Graceful Assassin glared down at them.

"Soon the emptiness will shatter your heart in this world of nothingness!" he said.

A storm of flower petals surrounded him.

Everyone had to hold onto each other to prevent themselves from being blown away.

When the petals faded away, they say Marluxia was attached to some sort of creature that used his scythe for its hands.

"As lightness oblivion devours you- drown in the ever-blooming darkness!" he declared.

Everyone had to be very careful with Marluxia this time.

Since he had control over more than one scythe this time, that meant a better chance of getting them.

They decided that the best way to defeat him was to split into to two groups like they did last time.

If they wanted to get to Marluxia, then they needed to do something about those scythes.

Sora and Donald took care of one of them while Hikari and Goofy took care of the other.

It was hard to fight Marluxia since he could see what they were doing. He would try to push them back, but they just pushed forward.

After a bit of fighting, they finally got rid of his scythes.

Sora and Hikari were about to attack Marluxia, but he just smirked evilly at them.

"Your hopes are doomed to the darkness" he said.

The area around them shook before it changed.

Sora and Hikari found themselves standing on some sort of platform that was made out of the creature that Marluxia was just on.

He was standing before them with a giant maiden of some kind, wielding his scythe.

Hikari gulped slightly and looked at Sora.

The boy gave him a determined look and held out his hand.

"Let's finish this"

Hikari nodded and grabbed his hand.

"Right"

They both let go and faced Marluxia.

They knew right away that this would be their last fight with him.

Hikari gripped her keyblade tightly.

She had no idea if she could beat Marluxia, but she simply couldn't stand back while her friends fought.

Gulping down her nerves, she ran at the Graceful Assassin and started the end of her battle.

Marluxia simply smirked at their useless efforts. They thought that by attacking him with only their weapons could stop him.

It was simply child's play.

He summoned up a set of flowers that acted as snipers and had them shoot beams of energy at them.

Hikari saw this and created a barrier of light with her keyblade.

"_If there's one up side to being a princess of heart, it's the fact that I wield the power of light"_

Sora continued fighting with Marluxia, but saw that his Keyblade wasn't doing much damage. It was as if whatever injuries Marluxia got, it would transfer to the maiden hovering behind him.

The medium wasn't much help either.

She would send deadly spells at them and would absorb any blows that were dealt with Marluxia.

As they fought, Hikari came up with an idea.

She quickly pulled Donald away and told him her plan.

"If we attack that medium, it won't be able to protect Marluxia" she whispered.

"Since we can't reach it by weapon, we'll just use magic"

Donald liked her idea and nodded.

They would leave Marluxia to Sora and Goofy while they lowered Marluxia's defense.

Hikari gathered all of the magical energy that flowed through her and gathered it to her keyblade.

The white key glowed brilliantly at the power of light flowed through it.

She looked determined as she aimed it at the maiden's head.

"_I only have one shot, so I have to make it count" _she thought.

A beam of light shot out of her keyblade and hit the maiden square in the head.

The maiden faltered a bit, which was the perfect opportunity for Donald to send a barrage of spells at her.

While Maruxia's defense was low, Sora and Goofy were able to get a few good hits on him.

Donald and Hikari kept attacking the maiden until it couldn't stand up to their attacks and broke down.

While Maruxia's defense was low, Sora and Goofy were able to get a few good hits on him.

Donald and Hikari kept attacking the maiden until it couldn't stand up to their attacks and broke down.

Marluxia was shocked to see his only defense gone.

"What?"

Hikari looked at Sora.

"Sora, finish him!"

Sora nodded and landed the finishing blow to the Graceful Assassin.

Marluxia yelled in agony as he started to fade away.

Unlike Vexen and Larxene, he faded away in flower petals.

He looked at Sora and Hikari as he faded away.

He had hoped that they would become his puppets and helped him take over the Organization, but it seems that they were more powerful than he took them for.

He reached his hand out towards them in a desperate manner.

Sora and Hikari watched as his body disappeared completely, never to be seen again.

"It's finally over" Sora said.

Hikari nodded.

/

They all ran out of the room when the battle was over.

Since Marluxia was gone, there was no need to stay there any longer.

Plus, they wanted to check on Namine and the Riku Replica.

When they ran out, Donald and Goofy closed the doors to the room.

Sora and Hikari drew out their keyblades and sealed the door shut so that it would never be opened again.

They didn't want to risk the chance of something coming out of there.

Sora went over to Namine to see if she was ok.

Hikari looked at the Riku Replica.

"You ok, Riku?" she asked.

The Replica just looked at her sadly.

"Not Riku" he said.

"I'm a fake. I can't remember why I was created or where or when… all that's inside of me- is time with you, Sora and Namine. But in know those memories are not real"

Hikari looked at him sadly.

She felt so bad for him.

Sure, he acted like a jerk to her and made her feel that the real Riku preferred Namine over her, but she knew now that it wasn't his fault.

Goofy looked at Namine.

"Gee, Namine, can't you use your magic to put Riku's memory back to normal?"

Namine looked at the Replica.

"Well, I_"

The Replica smiled sadly at her.

"It's alright. I'll deal" he said.

He started walking away from them.

Hikari didn't want him to leave in such a bad matter, so she stopped him.

"Wait!"

He didn't look at her when she grabbed him arm.

"Who cares if someone created you?" she asked.

"Sure, you were created to make us lose our memories faster, but you're you and nobody else. You have your own heart inside you. Those feelings and memories are yours and yours only. They're special!"

The Replica didn't say anything for a moment.

"Hikari"

He quickly turned around and enveloped her in a big hug.

Hikari and everyone else were surprised that he would do something like this.

"You're a good person" the Replica said.

"I don't have to be real to see how real your feelings are"

He let her go and brushed the hair out of her face.

"Maybe this is what the real Riku loves about you…I don't know why, but I just think that"

With that, he walked away from them.

Hikari held her hand out towards him.

"Riku!"

He didn't say anything as he walked away from them, never to be seen again.

/

Sora looked at Namine.

Now that Marluxia was gone, she could fix their memories.

"Can you put our memories back?" Donald asked.

Namine nodded.

"Yes. Not remembering something doesn't really mean that it's gone" she said.

"What d'ya mean?" Goofy asked.

"When you remember one thing, that leads to remembering another" Namine said.

"And then another, and then another. Our memories are connected. Many pieces are linked together like they're in a chain-that makes up each one of us. I don't actually erase memories- just take apart the links and rearrange them. You still have all of your memories"

Jiminy appeared on Sora's shoulder.

"So you can put them back together?" he asked.

"Yes" Namine said.

"But first, I have to undo the chains of the memories I made on my own. After I've done that, I have to gather up the memories scattered across each of your hearts and then reconnect them. It might take some time. But I think it might work. No- it will work. I'm sure. It's my turn to look after you"

Sora smiled at her.

He was glad to know that his memories weren't really erased.

"All right. We all really trust you"

Hikari nodded.

That's when she realized something.

If it was going to take them a while to have their memories back, how long would it be for her? She was still missing parts of her memories, even before stepping foot into this castle.

"Hey, Namine. How will this affect me?" she asked.

"Even before we stepped foot into this castle, I was still missing some memories. Will that falter with your work?"

Namine smiled gently at her.

"No" she said.

"Since you couldn't remember me, it'll be a lot easier to put your memories back together. And like I said before, your memories are just scattered through your heart. I can put your lost memories back together, even the ones I didn't tamper with"

Hikari looked relived.

"_So I'll finally remember my past" _she thought.

Jiminy suddenly recalled something.

"Wait a sec!" he cried.

"You said you'd have to undo the links of the memories you made. But that means-"

Namine smiled sadly at them.

"Yes. You won't be able to remember anything about what happened here" she said.

Sora looked sad.

"Not even you?"

Namine nodded.

"I'm sorry. It's the only way, I'm afraid"

She turned away from them.

"You and Hikari have a choice" she said.

"You can lose your memories of this castle and reclaim your old ones…or keep your memories here and give up the memories that you've lost"

Sora looked torn.

"Do I have to…to choice?" he asked.

Namine nodded.

Hikari knew what she wanted.

Even though she felt bad about her decision, she wanted to claim her old memories back.

She wanted to remember who that woman was and why she was important to her. She also wanted her lost memories back.

She felt bad that she would forget Namine, but she had a feeling that she would see her again.

She just had to wait for Sora's answer.

He was deep in thought as he decided his choice.

Would he want his old memories, or would he keep the ones that he had.

He slowly looked up Namine sadly.

"Make me like I was" he said.

Namine smiled sadly at them.

It seemed that she hoped that they would stay with their current memories.

"Oh, ok" she said.

"Nobody needs to keep a bunch of memories that aren't real, right?"

Hikari looked at her sadly.

"_Poor Namine"_

"You want to remember all of the people who are really important to you. Anybody would choice that"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

They wanted to bask in these last moments with Namine before they forgot about her and everything else that happened in this castle.

"_If this means a lot to Namine, then I'll take as long as she wants" _Hikari thought as she looked as the sad girl before her.

/

**A/N: Poor Namine. Only one chapter left before this story is over. Will Hikari finally remember the one who is most important to her?**

**You'll just have to review to find out.**

**Ja ne**


	17. Sweet Dreams

Chapter 16: Sweet Dreams

**A/N: Here's the final chapter to 'Chained Memories'. Fear not, this is not the end. We still have Riku's side of the story to cover.**

**I want to thank you all for reading and reviewing this story, It means a lot to me.**

**So, without further ado…the final chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, just Hikari.**

**Enjoy!**

/

Namine had lead them all to a special room that was deep within the castle.

While all of the other rooms where white, this room seemed to be glowing and had weird marking on the floors.

In the center of the room stood a giant pod that was shaped like an egg.

The pod opened up as they got closer.

"To remember again, we have to sleep in that ?" Donald asked.

Namine nodded.

"Yes" She said.

"It's going to take a little time, but I'll take care of you"

Goofy looked sad.

"Gawrsh, when we wake up, we won't remember who you are anymore" he said.

"But how are we gonna thank you?" Donald added.

"Don't worry about that!"

Jiminy appeared on Sora's shoulder.

"I'll just make a note in my journal. And it will say, 'thank Namine'"

Hikari smiled at that.

At least Jiminy could use his journal for something.

Everyone else seemed relived as well.

"Oh good. That makes me feel better" Donald said.

Goofy waved at Namine.

"Well, good night, then Namine!"

Namine smiled gently at him.

"Good night, Goofy"

He and Donald left the room to go to their pods.

Hikari waved at them before looking at Sora and Namine.

She figured that this would probably be their last moment together as 'friends', so she thought they would want to be alone.

"I'll be waiting at my pod" she said.

"Sweet dreams, Sora"

Sora smiled at her.

"You too, Hikari"

Hikari smiled at him before heading towards her pod in the next room.

/

She waited for a couple of minutes for Namine.

She figured she wanted to spend as much time with Sora as she possible could before he forgot about her.

She bit her lip slightly.

She felt bad that she decided to reclaim her old memories.

It wasn't that she wanted to forget what happened her in the castle, but she wanted to remember the one who was most precious to her.

"_Who was that woman that was so dear to me?" _she thought.

Namine came into the room moments later.

"Sora's asleep" she said.

Hikari gave her a weak smile.

They walked over to the pod that Hikari was going to sleep in.

Just as she was about to get in, Namine spoke to her.

"Even though you didn't 'remember' me…I'm still glad that I met you, Hikari"

She looked at Namine.

"Yeah, me too" she said.

She rubbed her head nervously.

"Since I couldn't remember you…will it take less time to fix my memories?"

"I don't know" Namine said.

"I'll be able to rearrange your memories from before you entered this castle…but considering that you're still missing your memories, it may take the same time as it will be for Sora"

Hikari shrugged.

"I don't mind" she said.

"I've been meaning to take a little nap anyway"

Namine sadly smiled at her.

"Oh, wait! I have something for you"

She pulled out her sketchbook and took out the drawing she made of Hikari and Riku holding hands.

"I know it isn't much, but I just wanted to show you how sorry I am for all of this happening"

Hikari looked at the picture.

She smiled when she saw that her lucky charm was tied around their hands, binding them together.

"It's beautiful" she said.

She carefully placed it within her pocket.

She looked at Namine's sketchbook.

She suddenly came up with an idea.

"Hey, can I borrow your sketchbook for a sec?"

Namine nodded and handed it to her.

Hikari picked up the colored pencil that was tucked within the spiral and started to draw something for Namine.

When she finished, she closed the book and handed it to her.

"Can you open it when I fall asleep?" she asked.

"I'll be embarrassed otherwise"

Namine nodded.

"Well…I guess this is goodbye" she said.

Hikari gave her a gentle grin.

"No. Not goodbye" she said.

"When Sora and I wake up, we'll find you. And then there will be no lies. We're gonna be best friends for real. Promise me, Namine"

Namine smiled weakly at her.

"You're going to forget making that promise" she said.

Hikari shook her head.

"If the chain of memories comes apart, the links will still be there, right?" she asked.

"So the memories of our promise will always be inside me somewhere. I'm sure of it"

Namine smiled at her.

"Yeah, you're right" she said.

"Okay, it's a promise"

Hikari nodded.

"Good, until then"

She went up to her and performed a pinky promise with her.

"You know, someone once told me that there are two different kinds of memories" Hikari said softly.

"The memory of the mind, and the memory of the body. Both of them are very important, but the body is very important…because even though the mind sometimes forgets, the body will always remember"

She looked at Namine.

"So, even though I might forget our promise, my body will always remember our pinky promise"

Namine giggled.

"That's very interesting. Who told you that?"

Hikari rubbed her head.

"I don't really remember" she said.

"But I have a feeling that it's the one who is most important to me"

They let go so Hikari could get into her pod.

"I wonder if I'll remember that person?" she asked.

"Don't worry, you will" Namine said.

The pod started to slowly close up.

"The one that you forgot…she is your light" Namine said.

"The light within the darkness. Remember her, and all of the memories lost in the shadows of your heart will come into the light"

"My light within the darkness" Hikari said.

She had always thought that Riku was her light, but now that she thought about it, there was one other person.

Namine nodded.

"It's like when Sora's good luck charm changed" she said.

"You saw someone when its shape was changed. Just think of that person and the memories will come back to you. That person gave you your good luck charm, right? The same one that you gave to Riku"

Hikari touched her neck where her necklace one stood.

She did recall someone giving her lucky charm to her.

By then, the pod had closed completely, leaving her in total darkness.

Even though she feared the darkness, she felt fine.

She simply thought about Riku and all of the ones who were dear to her.

Namine's image hovered over her as she recalled all of her dear friends.

The images of Sora, Donald and Goofy appeared to her first.

Then she saw her older brother with Mikomi, Yuffie, Aerith and Cid.

Next she saw Selphine, Tidus and Wakka.

Kairi's image came next and was soon followed after with Riku.

She smiled when she saw the Riku that she knew.

His image smiled at her and mouthed 'I love you' to her.

As she was looking at him, another figure appeared behind him.

It was the woman that she saw back on the fake Islands.

She looked so much like her, that she almost seemed familiar.

When the woman smiled, it suddenly dawned on her who this person was.

"Mom!" she cried.

Taiyouko's image smiled gently at her, as if she was glad that her daughter remembered her.

Hikari had tears in her eyes as she smiled at her mom.

She finally remembered the one person who was most important to her.

The one other her person that she cherished besides Riku.

She reached out to her mom, as if she could touch her.

Namine smiled when she saw that Hikari remembered Taiyouko.

Hikari looked at Namine's image.

"Namine?" she asked.

"Don't worry" she said.

"You might forget about me…but with our promise, I can come back"

Hikari grinned at her.

"A promise is a promise" she said.

"Yes" Namine said.

"One day the light-it will be ours, and it will bring us together. Till then- I'll be in your heart"

She suddenly felt her eyelids growing heavy.

She nodded as her body fell into slumber.

"Right" she said quietly.

"Forgotten-but not lost"

With that, she fell into a deep sleep.

The last thing she thought of before everything went black was Riku's kind words and Taiyouko's sweet smile.

/

As Namine watched Hikari fall asleep in her pod, she gripped her sketchbook tightly.

She felt sad that she would be forgotten, but since they made a promise, she was ok with it.

She looked at her sketch and opened it up.

The image that she saw made her smile.

Hikari drew a picture of her holding hands with her and Sora. She also noticed that their hands were tied with Hikari and Sora's good luck charms.

As she looked at the picture, she noticed that there was something written underneath the image.

_There is always sleep between part and meet with our usual words on the usual street._

_So let us part like we always do…and in a world without you, I'll dream of you._

_When I come to, let us meet with our usual words on the usual street._

A tear ran down her face as she read it.

She held her sketchbook close to her chest and watched Hikari as she slept.

"You may forget about me" she said.

"But I'll always remember you. These memories we've shared will live forever inside me"

/

**A/N: And that concludes 'Chained Memories'. Be on the lookout for the next installment to this story.**

**Now we'll see Riku's perspective with this game.**

**Thank you again for reviewing this story, you're awesome!**

**Ja ne!**


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